Breast Cancer-Fighting Plants: Fruits, Vegetables, Spices and Medicinal Plants with Anti-Breast Cancer properties

By Abderrazak El Alami

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer type, accounting for 1 in 8 cancer diagnoses worldwide. Side effects and the development of resistance to treatment, especially to chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hormonal therapy are major obstacles to the effective treatment of breast cancer. Recently, natural products from medicinal plants have gained immense attention as potential breast cancer prevention and therapeutics because of their anti-breast cancer effects. Medicinal plants are beneficial to human health because they contain bioactive compounds responsible for their therapeutic effects.
Countless recent studies have confirmed that a large number of plants, traditionally used by local people, are rich sources of bioactive compounds which provide health benefits and also possess strong anti-breast cancer effects. Many plants have antioxidant, antimutagenic, anticarcinogenic, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory activities that play important roles in cancer prevention. Several plants with antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antimutagenic, anticarcinogenic, antiproliferative, antitumor, antimetastasis, antiangiogenesis, immunomodulatory and hepatoprotective activities can play important roles in the treatment of cancers.
This book focuses on the main plants, used as food and/or in herbal medicine, that are rich in bioactive compounds with anti-breast cancer activities and proprieties. We provide the common and scientific names of all plants, their main bioactive compounds with anti-breast cancer effects, and their activities and properties against breast cancer. To facilitate the identification of each plant, we give a photo of the used parts for each plant. All data are based on the results of recent scientific studies (377 references, with links to each publication).

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: May 14, 2023
• ISBN: 9781447707592

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Fruits, Vegetables, Spices and  Medicinal Plants with Anti-Breast Cancer properties

EL ALAMI ABDERRAZAK

Copyright

Titre : Breast Cancer-Fighting Plants

Sous-titre : Fruits, Vegetables, Spices and Medicinal Plants with Anti-Breast Cancer properties

ISBN :  978-1-4477-0759-2

Marque éditoriale/Éditeur : Lulu.com

Licence de copyright :Tous droits réservés - Licence de copyright standard

Détenteur du copyright : Abderrazak El Alami

Année du Copyright : 2023

Contributeur : By Abderrazak El Alami

INTRODUCTION

Cancer is a group of more than 100 different diseases involving uncontrolled cell growth. It is caused by damage to the DNA within cells (WHO, 2018). Cancer cells can break off from the primary tumor in one organ to invade or spread to other organs and tissues of the body. This disease is one of the world’s largest health problems. It is a leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for nearly 10 million deaths in 2020, or nearly one in six deaths (WHO, 2018, 2020). More than two thirds of all cancer deaths occur in low- and middleincome countries. The most common cancers are breast, lung, colon and rectum, and prostate cancers. According to World Health Organization (WHO, 2020), the most common cancers in 2020 (in terms of new cases of cancer) were:

Breast (2.26 million cases);

Lung (2.21 million cases);

Colon and rectum (1.93 million cases);

Prostate (1.41 million cases);

Skin (non-melanoma) (1.20 million cases);

Stomach (1.09 million cases).

and, the most common causes of cancer death in 2020 were:

Lung (1.80 million deaths);

Colon and rectum (916 000 deaths);

Liver (830 000 deaths);

Stomach (769 000 deaths); and

Breast (685 000 deaths).

Breast cancer is currently the most common cancer globally (WHO, 2020). In 2020, there were more than 2.26 million new cases of breast cancer in women and 685 000 deaths globally (WHO, 2020). Accordin to WHO, breast cancer arises in the lining cells (epithelium) of the ducts (85%) or lobules (15%) in the glandular tissue of the breast. The 10 countries with the highest rates of breast cancer in women in 2020 are US, France, Australia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Denmark, New Zealand, Luxembourg, and New Caledonia (Stewart and Wild, 2014; WHO, 2022). The common treatments of breast cancer are surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, hormone therapy, targeted drug therapy, immunotherapy, and palliative care. Side effects and the development of resistance to treatment, especially chemotherapy, radiation and hormonal treatment are major obstacles to the effective treatment of breast cancer (Love et al., 1989). Several strategies can be developed to fight resistance in breast cancer, especially early diagnosis of resistance, combination therapy, use of inhibitors, increasind the drus response efficacy, and use of natural products.

Recently, natural products from medicinal plants gain immense attention as potential breast cancer prevention and therapeutics because of their anti-breast cancer effects. Medicinal plants are beneficial to human health because they contain bioactive compounds responsible for their therapeutic effects. Many bioactive substances of medicines come from plants. The active compounds are classified into several groups according to their chemical composition. Among the main groups of active compounds of plants, we mention phenolic acids, flavonoids, tannins, cardiac glycosides, cyanogenic glycosides, alkaloids, saponins, essential oils (terpenes, terpenoids, aldehydes, ketones, coumarins, esters, oxides, acids, etc.), antibiotics, vitamins and minerals. Countless recent studies confirmed that the majority of plants, traditionally used by local people, contain bioactive substances that are known in modern medicine for their biological activities and their therapeutic uses. Local people have been able to identify plants that can cure and/or prevent different types of diseases. This knowledge has been perfected through experimentation and exchange of information on medicinal plants with between Human populations.

Plants play a very important role in our diet and health. They are used as the food source on daily basis. The major food products obtained from plants include vegetables, fruits, leaves, root, pulses, cereals, seeds, etc. Plants are a source of a wide variety of nutrients required to keep the human body in perfect working condition. Our ancestors used a large number of plants in cooking and herbal medicine. In addition to their role as the main source of nutrients, plants are the richest source of bioactive compounds. Plant secondary metabolites are rich sources of bioactive compounds eliciting many beneficial health effects in man. There are several beneficial effects of plant bioactive compounds in the evidence-based prevention and treatment of several diseases, including cancers. Countless recent studies confirmed that the majority of plants, used as food and/or in herbal medicine, have powerful anticancer effects against several types of cancer, including the breast cancer. Many plants have antioxidant, antimutagenic, anticarcinogenic, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory activities that play important roles in cancer prevention. Several plants with antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antimutagenic, anticarcinogenic, antiproliferative, antitumor, antimetastasis, antiangiogenesis, immunomodulatory and hepatoprotective activities can play important roles in the treatment of cancers.

Results of several recent scientific and research studies reported that many plants, used as food and/or in herbal medicine, have anti-breast cancer effects. They confirmed the relationship between the frequency of breast cancer and the consumption of certain plants in human populations. Other studies showed the positive evolution of breast cancer in patients following the consumption of certain plants. Results of in Vivo experiences showed the inhibition of breast tumors following the administration of plant extracts. Results of in Vitro experiences confirmed the effects of plant extracts in breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, EMT-6, T47D, BT-20, etc.). Phytochemical studies highlight the presence in plants of bioactive chemical compounds known for their anti-breast cancer effects. The anti-breast cancer effects of anti-breast cancer compounds of plants are mainly due to:

Strengthen the immune system (Immunomodulatory effects),

Induce apoptosis (programmed cell death) in human breast cancer cells (antiproliferative, antitumor and antimetastasis effects),

Produce alterations in human breast cancer cell cycle progression (antiproliferative, antitumor and antimetastasis effects),

Decrease the proliferation of breast tumor cells (antiproliferative, antitumor and antimetastasis effects),

Prevent the vascularization of breast tumors in order to deprive them of vital resources for their development (anti-angiogenesis activities),

Protect the breast from toxins and participate in its regeneration (protective activities).

This book focuses on the main plants, used as food and/or in herbal medicine, that are rich in bioactive compounds with anti-breast cancer activities and proprieties. We give the common and scientific names of each plant, its main bioactive compounds with anti-breast cancer effects, and its main activities and properties against breast cancer. To facilitate the identification of each plant, we provide a photo of the used part for each plant.

BREAST CANCER

Breast cancer can start in one or both breasts. It is a disease in which cells in the breast grow out of control. Breast cancer can begin in different parts of the breast. The most common kinds of breast cancer are (American Cancer Society, 2022a, 2022b, 2022c, 2022d; breastcancer.org, 2022):

Invasive ductal carcinoma: begins in the lining of the milk ducts,

Invasive lobular carcinoma: begins in the lobules (milk glands) of the breast.

The stage of a breast cancer is determined by the cancer’s characteristics, such as how large it is and whether or not it has hormone receptors. The most common tool to describe the stage is the TNM system (National Cancer Institute, 2015, 2022a, 2022b; Dorling et al., 2021; American Cancer Society, 2022a, 2022b, 2022c, 2022d; breastcancer.org, 2022; CDC, 2022a, 2022b):

Tumor (T): How large is the primary tumor in the breast? What are its biomarkers ?

Node (N): Has the tumor spread to the lymph nodes? If so, where, what size, and how many?

Metastasis (M): Has the cancer spread to other parts of the body?

There are 5 major stages of breast cancer:

Stage 0: the cancer is where it started and hasn't spread. Generally is not considered cancer, but it indicate that a woman has an increased risk of developing breast cancer.

Stage 1: the tumor is small and and hasn't spread anywhere else.

Stage 2: the tumor is larger and may have spread to a few nearby lymph nodes.

Stage 3: the tumor is larger than and has spread to several lymph nodes and tissue around the breast or breast bone.

Stage 4: the cancer has