Pleiotropic Role of Dietary Phytochemicals in Cancer: Emerging Perspectives for Combinational Therapy

Abstract

Cancer is considered a complicated health issue worldwide. The mean cancer survival through standard therapeutic strategies has not been significantly improved over the past few decades. Hence, alternate remedies are needed to treat or prevent this dreadful disease being explored. Currently, it has been recognized that repeated treatment with chemotherapeutic agents has been largely ineffective due to multidrug resistance and further conventional treatment possesses limited drug accessibility to cancerous tissues, which in turn necessitates a higher dose resulting in increased cytotoxicity. Drug combinations have been practiced to address the problems associated with conventional single drug treatment. Recently, natural dietary agents have attracted much attention in cancer therapy because of their synergistic effects with anticancer drugs against different types of cancer. Natural phytochemicals may execute their anticancer activity through targeting diverse cancer cell signaling pathways, promoting cell cycle arrest and apoptosis, regulating antioxidant status and detoxification. This review focuses mainly on the anticancer efficacy of dietary phytochemicals in combination with standard therapeutic drugs reported from various in vitro and in vivo experimental studies apart from clinical trials. This review adds knowledge to the field of intervention studies using combinational modalities that opens a new window for cancer treatment/chemoprevention.

Antitumour effects of the essential oil from Mentha x villosa combined with 5‐fluorouracil in mice

“…[15] The literature shows that natural products have excelled in cancer therapy due to their synergistic actions with antineoplastic drugs against various types of cancer. [18] Therefore, there are several advantages of using associations, among which we can mention: increased efficacy, dose decrease, maintenance of the same effect with less toxicity, reduction in the development of resistance to drugs and potential synergistic effects. [20] Based on the considerations above, effective and low toxicity strategies with the possibility of reducing the dose of the conventional anticancer drug are strongly desirable can bring benefits to patients.…”

“…That increases the side effects and toxicity and often restricts effectiveness. [18,19] In the clinical scenario, combined anticancer drugs are frequently used in cancer chemotherapy in order to minimize problems related to standard single-drug treatment. [15] The literature shows that natural products have excelled in cancer therapy due to their synergistic actions with antineoplastic drugs against various types of cancer.…”

Cucurbitacin E Inhibits Huh7 Hepatoma Carcinoma Cell Proliferation and Metastasis via Suppressing MAPKs and JAK/STAT3 Pathways

“…Targeting these signaling pathways has been considered a promising strategy for cancer therapy. Single target interventions are largely ineffective and commonly drug resistance for complex cancer therapy [8,9]. Therefore, it is difficult to achieve the desired therapeutic effect by using single target therapy.…”

A Review of the Science of Colorful, Plant-Based Food and Practical Strategies for “Eating the Rainbow”

“…Understanding the role of complex bioactives from foods in chronic disease is difficult, considering it has been estimated that there are more than 25,000 bioactive food constituents [22]. Additionally, phytonutrients are pleiotropic and have multiple effects on cellular physiology, especially in the area of inflammation, insulin sensitization, and stress response [23,24]. Newer research now suggests that phytonutrients play significant roles beyond their protective, antioxidant activity [25].…”