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Natural products as drug candidates for breast cancer (Review)
1Cancer Prevention Research Program, Palindrome Liaisons Consultants, Montvale, NJ 07645-1559, USA.
Abstract:
Progression of early-stage breast cancer to advanced-stage metastatic disease represents a major cause of death in women. Long-term conventional and targeted therapy for breast cancer includes multi-drug combinations of cytotoxic chemotherapeutics and pathway-selective small molecule inhibitors. These treatment options are frequently associated with systemic toxicity, intrinsic/acquired therapy resistance and emergence of a drug-resistant cancer stem cell population. This stem cell population has a chemo-resistant, cancer-initiating, premalignant phenotype that is accompanied by cellular plasticity and metastatic potential. These limitations emphasize an unmet need to identify testable alternatives against therapy-resistant metastatic breast cancer. Natural products such as dietary phytochemicals, nutritional herbs and their constitutive bioactive agents have documented human consumption, and lack detectable systemic toxicity and resultant off-target unfavorable side effects. Because of these advantages, natural products may represent testable alternatives for therapy-resistant breast cancer. The present review discusses published evidence for growth inhibitory efficacy of natural products on cellular models for molecular subtypes of clinical breast cancer and development of drug-resistant stem cell models. Collectively, this evidence validates mechanism-based experimental approaches to screen and prioritize efficacious bioactive agents from natural products as novel drug candidates that may function as therapeutic alternatives for breast cancer.
Insights
Natural products offer a promising alternative for treating drug-resistant metastatic breast cancer. These compounds show efficacy in cellular models, suggesting potential as novel therapeutic agents with reduced toxicity.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Pharmacology
- Natural Product Chemistry
Background:
- Metastatic breast cancer progression is a leading cause of cancer-related death.
- Conventional therapies face challenges including systemic toxicity, drug resistance, and the emergence of chemo-resistant cancer stem cells.
- There is a critical need for alternative treatments for therapy-resistant metastatic breast cancer.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review evidence on the efficacy of natural products against breast cancer cellular and stem cell models.
- To explore the potential of natural products as alternative therapeutic agents for resistant breast cancer.
- To validate mechanism-based screening of natural product-derived bioactive agents.
Main Methods:
- Review of published literature on natural products' effects on breast cancer cell lines and stem cell models.
- Analysis of evidence for growth inhibitory efficacy of dietary phytochemicals and bioactive agents.
- Evaluation of natural products for potential therapeutic applications in resistant breast cancer.
Main Results:
- Natural products, including phytochemicals and herbs, demonstrate growth inhibitory effects on various breast cancer molecular subtypes.
- Evidence supports the efficacy of natural products in preclinical models of drug-resistant breast cancer and cancer stem cells.
- Natural products exhibit a favorable safety profile with minimal systemic toxicity compared to conventional treatments.
Conclusions:
- Natural products represent a viable avenue for developing novel therapeutic alternatives for metastatic and therapy-resistant breast cancer.
- Mechanism-based screening can identify potent bioactive agents from natural sources for drug development.
- The low toxicity profile of natural products makes them attractive candidates for overcoming limitations of current breast cancer therapies.
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