Cytoprotection and immunomodulation in cancer therapy

Area of Science:

• Oncology and Pharmacology
• Natural Products Chemistry
• Drug Development

Background:

• Cancer chemotherapeutic agents often cause severe toxicities, limiting optimal dosing and patient outcomes.
• Developing safer, effective, and selective cancer therapies remains a significant clinical challenge.
• Cytoprotective agents can reduce treatment-related toxicity without compromising anticancer efficacy, but ideal agents are lacking.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review chemical agents used in clinical practice for cancer treatment.
• To explore ethnopharmacological agents with potential chemoprotective, radioprotective, immunomodulating, adaptogenic, and antitumour activities.
• To highlight the potential of natural resources in improving cancer therapy.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of chemical agents currently employed in clinical practice.
• Systematic review of ethnopharmacological data on natural products.
• Analysis of reported chemoprotective, radioprotective, immunomodulating, adaptogenic, and antitumour activities.

Main Results:

• Current chemotherapeutic agents are associated with significant toxicities.
• Natural products offer promising avenues for developing agents with reduced toxicity.
• Several ethnopharmacological agents exhibit diverse beneficial activities relevant to cancer treatment.

Conclusions:

• Bioprospecting natural products is a vital strategy for developing safer and more effective cancer drugs.
• Natural resources hold significant potential for immunomodulatory and cytoprotective effects in cancer therapy.
• Further research into ethnopharmacological agents is warranted to identify novel anticancer therapies.