Cancer - Free Research Paper Example

Introduction

Globally, cancer is a significant health issue that continues to be the leading cause of death. Increased knowledge of molecular structures influencing cancer growth has adversely contributed to developing a variety of therapeutic drugs. Over the last few decades, the use of synthetic medications hasn't significantly increased the overall life expectancy of cancer patients. As a result, new methods and innovative chemoprevention agents have been invented to supplement conventional cancer therapies and improve efficacy. Natural occurring substances classified as phytochemicals act as essential tools for experimental medicines that form a vital part of cancer treatment.

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Plants have played a vital role in the mythology of past cultures. Plants have been used for food and have also formed a crucial part in making medicines. Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Classical India Medicine (TIM) are existing traditional treatments that have aided in providing much modern knowledge of medicinal herbs (Gupta, 2012). In TIM and TCM mythology, herbal medicines have been prepared as tinctures, teas, powders, poultices, and other compositions. It is worth noting that knowledge in selecting the ideal plants, drug concoction procedures, and particular applications has been passed from one generation to the next.

The Tendency

The modern development of isolation of active bioactive components dates to the early 19th century. Plant isolation has contributed to developing analgesic medications such as codeine, morphine, cardiac glycoside, digitalis lanata used for cardiac problems, and digitoxin. Most of these substances are still being used (Gupta, 2012).

These natural products have a wide range, often with intense biological activity, and thus play a significant role in medicinal therapies. Identifying plant-derived substances has progressed over the last 200 years due to the wide range of knowledge and skills required to recognize such compounds (Gupta, 2012). Initially, a plant is described by an ethnobotanist, botanist, plant ecologist, or an ethnopharmacologist. Then, plant extracts preceded by biological screening experiments are conducted by a phytochemist to classify the possible therapeutic action accompanied by isolating active compounds. Finally, materials science analyses are done to establish the mechanisms of action and related molecular pathways. The synthesis of these areas defines a multidisciplinary approach called pharmacognosy.

Nowadays Cancer Treatments

About 25% of all current drugs are indirectly or directly obtained from plant species (Dach et al., 2015). This indicates the significance of the medicinal value of plants that have been recognized in conventional medicine for centuries. Over the last decades, more and more new plant-derived materials have been approved and subscribed as medicinal items. It is believed that over 3000 plant species possess anticancer properties. The hunt for chemotherapeutic agents from plant origins starts in the mid-1950s (Gupta, 2012). Plant extracts have been used as the starting point for developing chemotherapeutic agents with distinct cellular properties. For instance, Vinca alkaloids are among the earliest groups of agents used in cancer treatment. They also form the second most widely used agents in clinical settings. The drug is prescribed to patients with breast, vaginal, bladder, and lung cancers. This agent works by combining microtubules and promoting microtubule assembly.

Interactions

Intriguingly, several isolated cancer compounds are linked to the relation between microbes and plants. Some of these associations are closely related to yeasts, fungi, and endophytic bacteria. These microbes infiltrate and reside inside plants without causing harm or disease to the plants. In addition, the microbes act as barriers to pathogenic microbe invasion and contribute to plant growth. They also form a part of the plant's defense response by developing a vast number of diverse secondary metabolites. Since most plant species co-exist with at least one endophyte, several molecules can be extracted from these structures (Gupta, 2012).

Chemotherapeutic Agents

Current modern methods of treating cancer include surgical removal and radiation treatment of broad cumulative cancer biomass, generally accompanied by systematic Chemotherapy for treatment. Primarily available chemotherapeutic agents have antimetabolites, plasmid-interactive agents, hormones, and taxane agents. The major setback that comes with Chemotherapy is the replication of cancer, resistance to prescribed medication, and adverse effects on non-targeted tissues that may hinder the use of anticancer drugs and thereby affect the quality of life of the patient. Thus, the need to find new anticancer drugs that solve current therapies and increase effectiveness by reduced side effects (Dach et al., 2015).

The drawbacks of chemotherapeutic treatments include adverse side effects, production of antibodies to chemical substances, and the need for alternative treatment methods to be used together with chemotherapy treatments to treat patients. These shortcomings are why molecular-based therapies are continuously becoming so important. Most molecular-based therapies are only intended to kill cancerous cells. Since molecular-based therapies are precise, they are not linked with some adverse side effects as with Chemotherapy. For this reason, a chemotherapy patient may be expected to attend a doctor regularly for treatment, which can be exhausting. More so, Chemotherapy affects people differently.

Mechanism of Actions

Research data suggests that phytochemicals exhibit superior antitumor ability. Up to 50% of licensed anticancer medications between 1940 and 2014 are extracted from organic products (Dach et al., 2015). Some of these phytochemicals have been screened for anti-carcinogenic efficacies at both Vivo and Vitro stages. They provide overlapping and complementary mechanisms that decelerate carcinogenic processes by scavenging free radicals, preventing cancerous cells' survival and spreading, therefore decreasing angiogenesis and tumor invasiveness. They exert a complicated and vast range of activities on various molecular targets and metabolic pathways, like receptor molecules (Gupta, 2012).

Role of Curcumin

Curcumin is a polyphenol compound derived from a tropical plant in Southeast Asia known as turmeric rhizome. It is primarily used as an ingredient. Turmeric powder contains about 2–5 percent curcumin and is used by the Chinese as a spice (Dach et al., 2015). Several research studies show that curcumin can modulate several cancer-related targets that could be important in fighting cancer. Curcumin has also been noted to function as a chemosensitizer used in anticancer drugs. The drug has a synergistic effect that could be used together with other organic products as an efficient tool in combating tumor resistance and minimizing recurrence. Accordingly, these findings suggest that a higher therapeutic index can be obtained with curcumin when used in conjunction and can help treat certain tumors (Dach et al., 2015). In either case, further studies are also required to determine the exact mechanism of curcumin's synergistic impact.

Role of Paclitaxel

In the recent decade, the invention of ciprofloxacin has increased therapeutic possibilities, primarily due to its potent anticancer effect, and tremendous achievements in the diagnosis of ovarian, lung, and breast cancer have been made. Furthermore, its popularity is also attributed to the potency of both stable and diffuse tumors and the large variety of antitumor activity expected by its particular mode of action, which focuses on the essential principles of cancer phenotypes such as neuronal migration and cell proliferation (Dach et al., 2015). In reality, paclitaxel skeleton compounds in specialized areas ensure that beta-tubulin is controlled to deter the adaptive reassembly of the mitochondrial membrane necessary for optimal cytoskeletal assembly. Although paclitaxel's therapeutic application has been performed primarily with the distilled drug from the Pacific Yew bark, the low quality of the plant and ecological effects of its production has led to extensive studies into alternative sources (Dach et al., 2015).

Role of Cannabinoids

The application of cannabinoids as chemotherapeutic agents is still under consideration because of cancer-promoting and suppressing effects that have been seen in recent centuries. The idea that cannabinoid plays a role in proliferation, cell apoptosis, and signaling decisions may have different consequences under diverse environments has shown that the endocrine mechanism may form a crucial role in cell proliferation by reducing levels of endogenous stimulants in different cell types versus undifferentiated cells, migration and cell growth that lead to fibrosis. On the other hand, findings indicate that cannabinoids in gastrointestinal systems inhibit cell growth of colorectal carcinoma. In cell-line studies, antineoplastic impacts of synthetic and natural cannabinoids, as observed in many cancer types, include carcinomas, lymphomas, gliomas, breast cancer, neuroblastoma, and thyroid epithelioma (Dach et al., 2015).

Conclusion

Plant products remain a crucial tool in the search for and discovery of new pharmacological tips. One of the main advantages of therapeutic plant-based drug development is the presence of ethnopharmacological data that offers ideal opportunities to reduce the wide variety of potential links to more viable ones. The systemic drug development approach is driven by large integrative factors that may include medicinal chemistry, biochemistry, pharmacology, cell, and molecular biology. Synthetic chemistry is required in capturing the full value of bioactive compounds. Besides, the advancements in analytical technologies and computational methods, and production of self-teaching intelligent systems, would promote the detection of new phytochemical lead entities for pharmaceutical assessment.

References

Colditz, G. A. (2005). Epidemiology and prevention of breast cancer. Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention, 14(4), 768-772.
https://doi.org/10.1158/1055-9965.epi-04-0157

Dach, J., Moore, E. A., & Kander, J. (2015). Cannabis extracts in medicine: The promise of benefits in seizure disorders, cancer and other conditions. McFarland.
https://doi.org/10.5860/choice.196010

Gupta, V. V. (2012). Rhizosphere biology: Interactions between microbes and plants. Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6125-2.