Promising Anticancer Potential of Herbal Compounds against Breast Cancer: A Systemic Review

Abstract

Breast cancer (BC) exhibit a high level of mortality rate and incidence but a comprehensive treatment is unavailable, which can successfully eradicate this fatal disease. Novel therapeutic strategies have been intensively studied to eradicate BC, including the use of traditional medicines and phytochemical (herbal compounds). These compounds have been studied in many aspects, such as targeting cell cycle and key tumor-associated metabolic pathways. In this study, we reviewed the literature for the potential therapeutic application of herbal compounds against breast cancer. Several terms, including "Herbal compounds", "Breast Cancer" and "Traditional medicines", were searched in PubMed and Web of Science databases. The search results were narrowed down using many filters and the resultant literature was critically analyzed. The enormous number of articles showed the promising potential of herbal compounds as anticancer therapy. The comprehensive evaluation of the literature suggested the anti-angiogenic, anti-proliferative, anticancer stem cells, anti-inflammatory/antioxidant, anti-metastatic, and epigenetic effects of herbal compounds as anticancer effects against BC. Despite this enormous data, there is lack of sufficient demonstration of the consumption of herbal compounds in a regular as anticancer strategy in clinical trials. Therefore, given its promising anticancer potential, focus should be shifted towards the regular use of herbal compounds in anticancer strategies.