Current Update on Natural Agents Against Triple Negative Breast Cancer

Abstract

Breast cancer (BC) is sub-categorized into several well-recognized subtypes including estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and HER2 triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). It is a heterogeneous disease entity constituting about 15% of breast cancer cases worldwide. TNBC is associated with poor prognosis and lack of sustained response to conventional chemotherapeutic agents. Although no approved targeted therapy is available for TNBCs, molecular-profiling efforts have revealed promising molecular targets such as the Wnt/β-catenin, STAT3, VEGF, EGFR, polyadenosine ribose polymerase inhibitors (PARPi) and DNA repair pathway, androgen pathway, and NOTCH pathway. Moreover, more research needs to be performed in the area of TNBC aiming at dissecting potential pathways and identifying potential molecular signatures to develop new targeted biologic modifiers. Natural agents are the abundant chemical compounds available from diverse plants. The authors aimed to summarize the current evidence and discuss the natural agents that target TNBC using different pathways.