Halofuginone for cancer treatment: A systematic review of efficacy and molecular mechanisms

•We provide a comprehensive review of the most recent anticancer studies reported for Halofuginone (HF).•HF exhibits significant anticancer activity and synergistic effects in chemotherapy/radiotherapy/virus for the treatment of various cancers in vitro and in vivo.•HF could induce cell cycle arrest, apoptosis and autophagy, inhibit cell proliferation, invasion, migration and angiogenesis, and disturb the tumor microenvironment in tumor cells.•The anticancer effect of HF might be associated with the induction of the amino acid starvation response by HF in response to the inhibition of glutamyl-prolyl-tRNA synthetase.