Review
- a Department of Urology, School of Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA
- b Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA
- c Department of Molecular Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA
- d Cancer Therapy and Research Center, School of Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA
- e South Texas Veterans Health Care System, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA
- Received 30 October 2015, Revised 17 June 2016, Accepted 23 June 2016, Available online 7 July 2016
Abstract
The
rise in cancer incidence and mortality in developing countries together
with the human and financial cost of current cancer therapy mandates a
closer look at alternative ways to overcome this burgeoning global
healthcare problem. Epidemiological evidence for the association between
cancer and diet and the long latency of most cancer progression have
led to active exploration of whole and isolated natural chemicals from
different naturally occurring substances in various preclinical and
clinical settings. In general the lack of systemic toxicities of most
‘whole’ and ‘isolated’ natural compounds, their potential to reduce
toxic doses and potential to delay the development of drug-resistance
makes them promising candidates for cancer management. This review
article examines the suggested molecular mechanisms affected by these
substances focusing to a large extent on prostate cancer and deliberates
on the disparate results obtained from cell culture, preclinical and
clinical studies in an effort to highlight the use of whole extracts and
isolated constituents for intervention. As such these studies
underscore the importance of factors such as treatment duration,
bioavailability, route of administration, selection criteria,
standardized formulation and clinical end points in clinical trial
design with both entities. Overall lack of parallel comparison studies
between the whole natural products and their isolated compounds limits
decisive conclusions regarding the superior utility of one over the
other. We suggest the critical need for rigorous comparative research to
identify which one of the two or both entities from nature would be
best qualified to take on the mantle of cancer management.
Keywords
- Food-based extracts;
- Active compounds;
- Cancer prevention;
- Cancer therapy;
- Adjuvants
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
