Chapter 18 - Multitalented Ginger and Its Clinical Development for Cancer Treatment

Abstract

The drug industry is witnessing a paradigm shift in anticancer drug discovery processes with researchers recognizing the potential of natural medicines (dietary phytochemicals, plant extracts, etc.) to treat cancer. This shift has primarily been precipitated due to the limited success of currently available chemotherapeutics to treat cancer, their monotargeting nature, their respective associated side effects, and the escalating cost of discovering new anticancer drugs. Natural medicines by nature are multitargeting with mild to no side effects and have a low cost of development. Among several natural medicines tested for their anticancer properties, ginger displays an immense potential to treat cancer alone or in combination with currently used anticancer drugs. Ginger-based therapies not only target cancer cells but also can attenuate chemotherapy-associated side effects and resensitize cancer cells to anticancer drugs. Here, we discuss various mechanisms by which ginger exerts its multiple effects on cancer cells and its clinical development. We further discuss various novel approaches such as network pharmacology, reverse pharmacokinetics and PK-PD modeling, whose applications can overcome certain roadblocks to facilitate clinical translation of ginger. We are hopeful that ginger-based therapies will provide wholesome and nontoxic treatments to cancer patients to positively impact their lives.