Abstract
The genesis of cancer is often a slow process and the risk of developing cancer increases with age. Altering a diet that includes consumption of beneficial phytochemicals can influence the balance and availability of dietary chemopreventive agents. In chemopreventive approaches, foods containing chemicals that have anticancer properties can be supplemented in diets to prevent precancerous lesions from occurring. This necessitates further understanding of how phytochemicals can potently maintain healthy cells. Fortunately there is a plethora of plant-based phytochemicals although few of them are well studied in terms of their application as cancer chemopreventive and therapeutic agents. In this analysis we will examine phytochemicals that have strong chemopreventive and therapeutic properties in vitro as well as the design and modification of these bioactive compounds for preclinical and clinical applications. The increasing potential of combinational approaches using more than one bioactive dietary compound in chemoprevention or cancer therapy will also be evaluated. Many novel approaches to cancer prevention are on the horizon, several of which are showing great promise in saving lives in a cost-effective manner.
Highlights
The transformation of a normal cell into a cancerous phenotype requires stages of initiation, progression, and promotion by altering specific genes [1,2,3]
The key focus will be on mechanistic pathways that are regulated by nutraceuticals to bring about changes in the tumor environment and serve as alternative approaches for cancer prevention and therapy (Figure 1)
What is interesting to note is that the combination approach lowered the effective dose, but was able to abrogate cell proliferation as well. This lowered concentration of genistein at 100 nM is achieveable in vivo through dietary sources, and clinical studies would be required to determine the localization of genistein and Vit D3 in prostatic tissues
Summary
The transformation of a normal cell into a cancerous phenotype requires stages of initiation, progression, and promotion by altering specific genes [1,2,3]. Phytochemicals are plant-based chemicals that mediate their positive health benefits directly, by affecting specific molecular targets such as genes, or indirectly as stabilized conjugates affecting metabolic pathways [7]. The key focus will be on mechanistic pathways that are regulated by nutraceuticals to bring about changes in the tumor environment and serve as alternative approaches for cancer prevention and therapy (Figure 1). These molecules may not have a nutrient value but are germane to the function of a cell. Once tumor regression sets in, dietary composition of the molecule can be adjusted
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