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Review
. 2020 Nov 11;21(22):8480.
doi: 10.3390/ijms21228480.

Natural Health Products (NHP's) and Natural Compounds as Therapeutic Agents for the Treatment of Cancer; Mechanisms of Anti-Cancer Activity of Natural Compounds and Overall Trends

Benjamin Scaria  1 , Siddhartha Sood  1 , Christopher Raad  1 , Jana Khanafer  1 , Rahul Jayachandiran  1 , Alaina Pupulin  1 , Sahibjot Grewal  1 , Michael Okoko  1 , Mansi Arora  1 , Lauren Miles  1 , Siyaram Pandey  1
Affiliations
Review

Natural Health Products (NHP's) and Natural Compounds as Therapeutic Agents for the Treatment of Cancer; Mechanisms of Anti-Cancer Activity of Natural Compounds and Overall Trends

Benjamin Scaria et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

Most cancer therapeutics, such as tubulin-_targeting chemotherapy drugs, cause cytotoxic, non-selective effects. These harmful side-effects drastically reduce the cancer patient's quality of life. Recently, researchers have focused their efforts on studying natural health products (NHP's) which have demonstrated the ability to selectively _target cancer cells in cellular and animal models. However, the major hurdle of clinical validation remains. NHP's warrant further clinical investigation as a therapeutic option since they exhibit low toxicity, while retaining a selective effect. Additionally, they can sensitize cancerous cells to chemotherapy, which enhances the efficacy of chemotherapeutic drugs, indicating that they can be utilized as supplemental therapy. An additional area for further research is the investigation of drug-drug interactions between NHP's and chemotherapeutics. The objectives of this review are to report the most recent results from the field of anticancer NHP research, and to highlight the most recent advancements in possible supplemental therapeutic options.

Keywords: anti-cancer effect; apoptosis; cancer; complementary and alternative medicine (CAM); drug–drug interaction; integrative oncology; natural compound; natural health product (NHP); neoplasm.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Figure depicts anticancer effects and specific mechanisms of action of conventional therapy and compounds found in natural extracts: (A) Long pepper extract is able to induce apoptosis via multiple pathways through the activity of multiple compounds contained within the extract; (B) Combination treatment of paclitaxel and dandelion root extract (DRE) can suppress the activity of the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2, eventually inducing apoptosis.
Figure 2
Figure 2
A few of the bioactive compounds with known anti-cancer activity towards breast cancer: (A) Piperine; (B) Piperylene; (C) Betulin; (D) curcumin [28,29,30,31].
Figure 3
Figure 3
A few of the bioactive compounds with known anti-cancer activity towards melanoma: (A) Curcumin; (B) Piperine; (C) Piperlongumine; (D) Berberine; (E) Taraxasterol; (F) Vincristine; (G) Eupatilin. [28,31,69,70,71,72,73].
Figure 4
Figure 4
A few of the bioactive compounds with known anti-cancer activity towards leukemia and lymphoma: (A) Parthenolide; (B) Triptolide; (C) Cantharidin; (D) Cyclopamine [104,105,106,107].
Figure 5
Figure 5
A few of the bioactive compounds with known anti-cancer activity towards colorectal cancer: (A) Chicoric acid; (B) Chlorogenic acid; (C) Piperine; (D) Piperlongumine; (E) Carnosic acid; (F) Carnosol [28,69,138,139,140,141].
Figure 6
Figure 6
A few of the bioactive compounds with known anti-cancer activity towards lung and pancreatic cancer: (A) Curcumin; (B) Capsaicin; (C) Genistein; (D) Ginsenosides; (E) Saikosaponin D; (F) Isoliquiritigenin [31,171,172,173,174,175].
Figure 7
Figure 7
A few of the bioactive compounds with known anti-cancer activity towards prostate cancer: (A) Caffeic acid; (B) Chlorogenic acid; (C) Elemicin; (D) Gallic acid [139,185,186,187].
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