Exploring the anti-cancer potential of dietary phytochemicals for the patients with breast cancer: A comprehensive review

BackgroundThe most common and deadly cancer in female is breast cancer (BC) and new incidence and deaths related to this cancer are rising. AimsSeveral issues, that is, high cost, toxicity, allergic reactions, less efficacy, multidrug resistance, and the economic cost of conventional anti-cancer therapies, has prompted scientists to discover innovative approaches and new chemo-preventive agents. MaterialsNumerous studies are being conducted on plant-based and dietary phytochemicals to discover new-fangled and more advanced therapeutic approaches for BC management. ResultWe have identified that natural compounds modulated many molecular mechanisms and cellular phenomena, including apoptosis, cell cycle progression, cell proliferation, angiogenesis and metastasis, up-regulation of tumor-suppressive genes, and down-regulation of oncogenes, modulation of hypoxia, mammosphere formation, onco-inflammation, enzymatic regulation, and epigenetic modifications in BC. We found that a number of signaling networks and their components such as PI3K/Akt/mTOR, MMP-2 and 9, Wnt/-catenin, PARP, MAPK, NF-kappa B, Caspase-3/8/9, Bax, Bcl2, Smad4, Notch1, STAT3, Nrf2, and ROS signaling can be regulated in cancer cells by phytochemicals. They induce up-regulation of tumor inhibitor microRNAs, which have been highlighted as a key player for ani-BC treatments followed by phytochemical supplementation. ConclusionTherefore, this collection offers a sound foundation for further investigation into phytochemicals as a potential route for the development of anti-cancer drugs in treating patients with BC.