Herbal Remedies for Breast Cancer Prevention and Treatment

Abstract

Breast cancer is among the most common type of cancer in women around the globe. Prevention of breast cancer is better than its treatment. Because of the molecular variation and complexity underlying breast cancer occurrence, its treatment by using chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy is very complicated and often leads to undesirable side effects. Plants and their extracts have been used for centuries for the treatment of almost every disease and breast cancer is not an exception. Herbal products can be trusted for cancer treatment because of their low toxicity. Besides, herbal remedies are easily accepted by the majority of woman suffering from breast cancer because of their easy availability and affordability. In the last decade, a large number of plants and their compounds were reported to show promising anticancerous effects against breast cancer cells in both in vivo and in vitro models. However, their beneficial effects on breast cancer treatment are still doubtful due to the lack of randomized clinical trials. This chapter is dedicated to reporting the potential of some herbal products for the prevention and/or treatment of breast cancer. Besides, it focused on the anticarcinogenic mechanism of those phytocompounds to report their potential chemotherapeutic role.

α-Mangostin Nanoparticles Cytotoxicity and Cell Death Modalities in Breast Cancer Cell Lines

“…BC may be caused by a mutation that results from the aging process and risk factors associated with a healthy lifestyle [ 27 ]. The most promising strategy for cancer treatment is to disrupt the three phases of carcinogenesis—initiation, promotion, and progression—and alter the carcinogenesis signaling pathways [ 4 ]. BC treatment may be quite successful, mainly when the illness is detected early and has a favorable prognosis ( Figure 2 ) [ 28 , 29 ].…”

“…As a result, damage to DNA or proteins that regulate the cell cycle can result in uncontrolled cell division and proliferation, referred to as cancer. Cancer causes dysregulation of apoptosis, proliferation, angiogenesis, and metastasis [ 4 ].…”

“…BC is molecularly classified into estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) expression and human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER2) amplification [ 4 ]. Approximately 60–70% of early BC patients are hormone-sensitive, showing positive estrogen receptor (ER+), positive progesterone receptor (PR+), or both.…”

“…The tumor suppressor TP53 gene encodes the protein p53, which regulates the cell cycle, induces apoptosis, maintains genome integrity, and prevents tumor development. Mutations in the TP53 gene increase the risk of BC [ 4 ]. When stress occurs, phosphorylation of p53 interferes with binding to protein MDM2, resulting in p53 accumulation and subsequent transcription of several genes, including the gene encoding the protein cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor (CKI) p21.…”

“…Surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy have become the mainstay of cancer treatment. The problems that arise are metastasis, drug resistance, toxicity, and unwanted side effects [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]. Effective, efficient, cost-effective, and biocompatible alternative medicine is urgently needed [ 5 ].…”