Introduction
With significant advancements in treatments and prevention measures, cancer has remained an ongoing battle on a global scale. An uncontrollable and unabating cell division in the human body characterizes the condition. Resulting in the development of tumors made up of cancerous cells that can spread. Chemotherapy, radiation, and medications made from chemicals are some of the current treatments. Chemotherapy, for example, can put people under much stress and worsen their health. As a result, emphasis is placed on employing complementary and alternative therapies to combat cancer.
Herbal remedies have been and continue to be the mainstay of healthcare in underdeveloped nations for many years. Due to their inherent antibacterial qualities, plants have been employed in medicine. To create perspective nanomaterial-based treatments for diseases like cancer, research has evolved toward examining the potential qualities and uses of extracts from terrestrial plants. There are currently numerous plant species that are used to treat or stop the growth of cancer. With a focus on those used in herbal therapy in impoverished nations, numerous researchers have found plant species that have exhibited anticancer effects.
Cancer Endocrinology: What Is It?
The term "endocrine cancers" refers to a class of cancers responsive to sex hormones, including cancers of the breast, endometrial, prostate, and testis, as well as other cancers, including thyroid and ovary tumors, that are susceptible to pituitary hormones.
This approach has proven beneficial for its clinical applications, resulting in the adoption of anti-estrogenic/anti-androgenic treatments for sex hormone-sensitive cancers and thyroid-stimulating hormone suppressive therapy with l-thyroxine (l-T4) for differentiated thyroid cancer. Additionally, numerous research has looked into the physiological factors that may influence the availability and exposure to sex steroids and modulate cancer risks, such as early menarche, late menopause, age at first pregnancy, number of pregnancies, prolonged lactation, and obesity.
Germline polymorphisms, connected to the genetic control of serum hormone levels or target tissue responses and the modification of cancer risk, have been discovered by another set of investigations. The potential effects of exposure to exogenous sex hormones, such as estroprogestins, postmenopausal estrogen replacement treatment, or endocrine disruptors.
What Anti-Cancer Medication Affects Epigenetic Traits?
Deregulation of epigenetic processes and changes to them play a role in the first phase of the genesis of cancer. Cancer cells have dysregulated regulation of the CpG island-based hypermethylation of tumor-suppressor genes. As a result, genes that prevent tumor growth may be silenced and inactivated. Recent years have seen the discovery of medications that can prevent or undo epigenetic changes.
Chemically derived epigenetic medications have been created and tested, including Suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA, Vorinostat, Zolinza), 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine (Decitabine), and 5-azacytidine (Azacitidine; Vidaza). These medications are both DNMTi 11 and HDACi (Romidepsin, Istodax). A chemically produced medicine that is selective to the cytotoxicity of cancer cells and non-toxic to normal cells must be engineered, which is a challenging task. As a result, there is an emphasis focus on the discovery and research of substances with natural origins that can be utilized to cure cancer. Although there are many different varieties of cancer in the human population, they all have genetic traits in common, such as an inability to respond to signals that would normally slow a cell's growth, which would allow an unrestricted amount of replication. As long as angiogenesis is maintained within the tumor tissue, cancer cells can avoid and never experience apoptosis, which allows them to live. There is evidence that chemicals produced by plants can suppress the growth and division of cancer cells as well as cause apoptotic cell death.
What Plant Substances Have Anti-cancer Properties?
Many plants are used for their health advantages in developed countries, while medicinal plants have been utilized as folk medicines by Asian and African populations for thousands of years. The World Health Organization reports that some countries continue to use plant-based treatments as their primary source of medicine, and developing countries are using the therapeutic benefits of substances derived from naturally occurring sources. Brassinosteroids, taxols, and polyphenols are among the substances that have been isolated from terrestrial plants and given anticancer characteristics.
1. Polyphenols:
Flavonoids, tannins, curcumin, resveratrol, and galla catechins are all polyphenolic substances that are thought to have anticancer properties. Foods containing resveratrol include red wine, grapes, and peanuts. Green tea has gallacatechins in it. Polyphenols are believed to enhance health and lower cancer risk because they are natural antioxidants.
Polyphenols' cytotoxicity against various cancer cells has been proven, and their antioxidant capabilities have been identified. It is believed that polyphenols can be used to induce apoptosis and exhibit anticancer effects. The mobilization of copper ions that are attached to chromatin and cause DNA fragmentation is the mechanism by which polyphenols are considered to initiate apoptosis.
Resveratrol was found to break down DNA when Cu (II) was present. Inhibiting the growth of cancer cells by interfering with proteins found in cancer cells is one of the other qualities that plant polyphenols exhibit. Cancer-causing substances may change due to the polyphenol's direct bonding regulation of acetylation, methylation, or phosphorylation. For instance, tumor necrosis factor expression was suppressed by curcumin treatment in various cancer cell lines when it interacted with diverse stimuli.
2. Flavonoid:
Traditional Chinese medicine plants, such as the litchi leaf, have been studied for their flavonoid content and how these compounds affect cancer cells. There is a high concentration of flavonoid compounds, such as anthocyanins, flavones, flavonols, chalcones, and many others, in just one plant structure, the seed. Coa et al. (2013) identified and investigated the anticancer effects of flavonoids from the fern Dryopteris erythrosora on human lung cancer cells (A456 cell line). Flavonoids were discovered to be cytotoxic to cancer cells and to have high free radical scavenging activity.
Other human malignancies, such as hepatoma (Hep-G2), cervical carcinoma (Hela), and breast cancer, have also been proven to be resistant to purified flavonoids' anticancer effects (MCF-7). 4'-Methoxyisoflavone and Alpinumi soflavone, two flavonoids isolated from Erythrina suberosa stem bark, were shown to have a cytotoxic effect on HL-60 cells (human leukemia). 4'-Methoxyisoflavone and Alpinumi soflavone induced apoptosis via intrinsic and extrinsic signaling mechanisms. Apoptotic proteins are induced, drastically lowering the mitochondrial membrane's potential. Cancer cells cannot survive when their mitochondria are damaged.
3. Brassinosteroids
The naturally occurring substances known as brassinosteroids are present in plants. They have a variety of functions, including regulating hormone signaling that controls cell development and differentiation, the lengthening of stem and root cells, and resistance and tolerance to disease and stress. Brassinosteroids are also utilized to control plant senescence. For the development and growth of plants, they are crucial. Another naturally occurring molecule known as brassinosteroids has shown therapeutic value in the fight against cancer.
Cancer cells exhibit a fundamental inability to undergo apoptosis and an unending capacity for proliferation. By interacting with the cell cycle, brassinosteroids can trigger reactions necessary for growth inhibition and induce apoptosis. The androgen receptor, a crucial protein involved in the growth of prostate cancer cells (LNCaP and DU-145 cell lines), is similar in structure to the estrogen receptor. Inhibiting the proliferation of both hormone-sensitive and hormone-insensitive cancer cells, brassinosteroids interact with or bind to the receptors of these proteins. Brassinosteroids can also cause cell cycle blocking.
Cancer cells would not be able to undergo apoptosis spontaneously at this point without treatment, but brassinosteroid treatment triggers it.
With the administration of brassinosteroids, the ratio of apoptotic proteins that encourage cell survival to those that cause programmed cell death shifts in the prostate cancer cell lines LNCaP and DU-145. After receiving brassinosteroids, levels of the pro-apoptotic protein Bax rise while those of the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 decline. In addition to having anticancer effects, brassinosteroids cause many reactions in healthy and cancerous cells. Agents of brassinosteroid origin are of interest for their therapeutic qualities. A crucial requirement for anticancer treatment is that the agent not be cytotoxic to healthy cells and cell-specific to cancer cells.
What Are the Natural Substances With the Potential to Inhibit Angiogenesis Directly or Indirectly?
1. Sinensis Tree (Green Tea)
Compound - Epigallocatechin-3 gallate (EGCG).
Mechanism of action - Interferes with the development of the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 complex, which inhibits vascular endothelial growth factor signaling.
2. Camptotheca Acuminate (Happy Tree)
Compound - Camptothecin.
Mechanism of action - Reduces HIF1 and vascular endothelial growth factor expression, inhibits EC proliferation and tube formation, and blocks topoisomerase I.
3. Combretum Caffrum (South African Bush Willow)
Compound - Combretastatin.
Mechanism of action - Inhibits tubulin assembly, which plays an important role in angiogenesis.
4. Max Glycine (Soybean)
Compound - Genistein.
Mechanism of action - Inhibits receptor tyrosine kinase, inhibits the activation of the NF-B and Akt signaling pathways, and suppresses the production of vascular endothelial growth factor and FGF-2.
5. Rose Vine
Compound - Vincristine.
Mechanism of action - Disrupts the microtubule cytoskeleton and prevents the synthesis of vascular endothelial growth factor.
6. Vitis Spp (Grape)
Compound - Resveratrol.
Mechanism of action - Disrupts VE that is Src-dependent phosphorylation of cadherin tyrosine.
7. Panax Ginseng
Compound - Ginsenosides Rb1.
Mechanism of action - Prevent tumor cells from producing vascular endothelial growth factor.
Conclusion
Increases in tumor resistance to the available treatment drugs are a challenge nowadays. Exogenous antioxidants can aid in preventing the free radical damage linked to the onset of cancer. Additionally, it has been demonstrated that a wide range of therapeutic herbs, including Allium sativum, Stachys lavandulifolia, Artemisia abrotanum, and Salvia officinalis, exhibit antioxidant activity. It has been established that several medicinal plants' antioxidant activity and anticancer properties are related. They are highly effective therapeutically without any side effects.
