Abstract
Phytochemicals are chemical compounds from fruits, vegetables, or grains and they have been used to treat various diseases for thousands of years. More than one million people in the United States get cancer each year. Although recent advances in medicine have improved the outcomes for cancer patients, there is still a need for novel approaches in the fight against cancer. One such approach that has shown promise in recent years is the use of phytochemicals alone or as synergistic agents. In this review, we will discuss the use of phytochemicals as therapeutic agents against cancer with an emphasis on apple extract.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Siegel R, Ma J, Zou Z, Jemal A (2014) Cancer statistics, 2014. CA Cancer J Clin 64(1):9–29
Wang H, Khor TO, Shu L, Su Z, Fuentes F, Lee J-H, Kong A-NT (2012) Plants against cancer: A review on natural phytochemicals in preventing and treating cancers and their druggability. Anti Cancer Agents Med Chem 12(10):1281
Halberstein RA (2005) Medicinal plants: historical and cross-cultural usage patterns. Ann Epidemiol 15(9):686–699
Simon JJ (2002) Phytochemicals & cancer. Journal of Chiropractic Medicine 1(3):91–96
Wahle KW, Brown I, Rotondo D, Heys SD (2010) Plant phenolics in the prevention and treatment of cancer. Bio-Farms for Nutraceuticals. Springer, In, pp. 36–51
Johnson D, Walker C (1999) Cyclins and cell cycle checkpoints. Annu Rev Pharmacol Toxicol 39(1):295–312
Boyer J, Liu RH (2004) Apple phytochemicals and their health benefits. Nutr J 3(5):12
Koch TC, Briviba K, Watzl B, Fähndrich C, Bub A, Rechkemmer G, Barth SW (2009) Prevention of colon carcinogenesis by apple juice in vivo: impact of juice constituents and obesity. Mol Nutr Food Res 53(10):1289–1302
Kahle K, Kraus M, Scheppach W, Richling E (2005) Colonic availability of apple polyphenols–a study in ileostomy subjects. Mol Nutr Food Res 49(12):1143–1150
Hollman PC, van Trijp JM, Buysman MN, van der Gaag MS, Mengelers MJ, de Vries JH, Katan MB (1997) Relative bioavailability of the antioxidant flavonoid quercetin from various foods in man. FEBS Lett 418(1):152–156
Gerhauser C (2008) Cancer chemopreventive potential of apples, apple juice, and apple components. Energy (Kcal/kJ) 54:227
De Mejía EG, Prisecaru VI (2005) Lectins as bioactive plant proteins: a potential in cancer treatment. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr 45(6):425–445
HemaIswarya S, Doble M (2006) Potential synergism of natural products in the treatment of cancer. Phytother Res 20(4):239–249
Kawasaki BT, Hurt EM, Mistree T, Farrar WL (2008) Targeting cancer stem cells with phytochemicals. Mol Interv 8(4):174
Li Y, Niu Y, Sun Y, Mei L, Zhang B, Li Q, Liu L, Zhang R, Chen J, Mei Q (2014) An Apple Oligogalactan Potentiates the growth inhibitory effect of celecoxib on colorectal cancer. Nutr Cancer 66(1):29–37
Basnet P, Skalko-Basnet N (2011) Curcumin: an anti-inflammatory molecule from a curry spice on the path to cancer treatment. Molecules 16(6):4567–4598
Moiseeva EP, Almeida GM, Jones GD, Manson MM (2007) Extended treatment with physiologic concentrations of dietary phytochemicals results in altered gene expression, reduced growth, and apoptosis of cancer cells. Mol Cancer Ther 6(11):3071–3079
Weiss JF, Landauer MR (2003) Protection against ionizing radiation by antioxidant nutrients and phytochemicals. Toxicology 189(1):1–20
Reagan-Shaw S, Eggert D, Mukhtar H, Ahmad N (2010) Antiproliferative effects of apple peel extract against cancer cells. Nutr Cancer 62(4):517–524
McCann M, Gill C, O’Brien G, Rao J, McRoberts W, Hughes P, McEntee R, Rowland I (2007) Anti-cancer properties of phenolics from apple waste on colon carcinogenesis in vitro. Food Chem Toxicol 45(7):1224–1230
Loo G (2003) Redox-sensitive mechanisms of phytochemical-mediated inhibition of cancer cell proliferation (review). J Nutr Biochem 14(2):64–73
Kern M, Pahlke G, Balavenkatraman KK, Böhmer FD, Marko D (2007) Apple polyphenols affect protein kinase C activity and the onset of apoptosis in human colon carcinoma cells. J Agric Food Chem 55(13):4999–5006
Li Q, Zhou S, Jing J, Yang T, Duan S, Wang Z, Mei Q, Liu L (2013) Oligosaccharide from apple induces apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in HT29 human colon cancer cells. Int J Biol Macromol 57:245–254
Zheng C-Q, Qiao B, Wang M, Tao Q (2013) Mechanisms of apple polyphenols-induced proliferation inhibiting and apoptosis in a metastatic oral adenoid cystic carcinoma cell line. The Kaohsiung Journal of Medical Sciences 29(5):239–245
Sudan S, Rupasinghe HV (2014) Flavonoid-enriched Apple Fraction AF4 induces cell cycle arrest, DNA Topoisomerase II inhibition, and apoptosis in human liver cancer HepG2 cells. Nutr Cancer 66(7):1237–1246
Sun J, Liu RH (2006) Cranberry phytochemical extracts induce cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in human MCF-7 breast cancer cells. Cancer Lett 241(1):124–134
Ray RB, Raychoudhuri A, Steele R, Nerurkar P (2010) Bitter melon (Momordica charantia) extract inhibits breast cancer cell proliferation by modulating cell cycle regulatory genes and promotes apoptosis. Cancer Res 70(5):1925–1931
Yoon H, Liu RH (2007) Effect of selected phytochemicals and apple extracts on NF-κB activation in human breast cancer MCF-7 cells. J Agric Food Chem 55(8):3167–3173
Chen M, Chen D, Dou Q (2004) Inhibition of proteasome activity by various fruits and vegetables is associated with cancer cell death. In vivo Athens, Greece 18(1):73
Ding M, Lu Y, Bowman L, Huang C, Leonard S, Wang L, Vallyathan V, Castranova V, Shi X (2004) Inhibition of AP-1 and neoplastic transformation by fresh apple peel extract. J Biol Chem 279(11):10670–10676
Sliva D (2003) Ganoderma lucidum (reishi) in cancer treatment. Integrative Cancer Therapies 2(4):358–364
Grube BJ, Eng ET, Kao Y-C, Kwon A, Chen S (2001) White button mushroom phytochemicals inhibit aromatase activity and breast cancer cell proliferation. The Journal of Nutrition 131(12):3288–3293
Kern M, Tjaden Z, Ngiewih Y, Puppel N, Will F, Dietrich H, Pahlke G, Marko D (2005) Inhibitors of the epidermal growth factor receptor in apple juice extract. Mol Nutr Food Res 49(4):317–328
Cochrane CB, Nair PR, Melnick SJ, Resek AP, Ramachandran C (2008) Anticancer effects of Annona glabra plant extracts in human leukemia cell lines. Anticancer Res 28(2 A):965–971
Veeriah S, Kautenburger T, Habermann N, Sauer J, Dietrich H, Will F, Pool-Zobel BL (2006) Apple flavonoids inhibit growth of HT29 human colon cancer cells and modulate expression of genes involved in the biotransformation of xenobiotics. Mol Carcinog 45(3):164–174
Fini L, Selgrad M, Fogliano V, Graziani G, Romano M, Hotchkiss E, Daoud YA, Edward B, Boland CR, Ricciardiello L (2007) Annurca apple polyphenols have potent demethylating activity and can reactivate silenced tumor suppressor genes in colorectal cancer cells. The Journal of Nutrition 137(12):2622–2628
Barnes S (2001) Role of phytochemicals in prevention and treatment of prostate cancer. Epidemiol Rev 23(1):102–105
Sagar SM, Yance D, Wong R (2006) Natural health products that inhibit angiogenesis: a potential source for investigational new agents to treat cancer—part 1. Curr Oncol 13(1):14
Weng C-J, Yen G-C (2012) Chemopreventive effects of dietary phytochemicals against cancer invasion and metastasis: phenolic acids, monophenol, polyphenol, and their derivatives. Cancer Treat Rev 38(1):76–87
Shu L, Cheung K-L, Khor TO, Chen C, Kong A-N (2010) Phytochemicals: cancer chemoprevention and suppression of tumor onset and metastasis. Cancer Metastasis Rev 29(3):483–502
Liu RH (2004) Potential synergy of phytochemicals in cancer prevention: mechanism of action. The Journal of Nutrition 134(12):3479S–3485S
Russo GL (2007) Ins and outs of dietary phytochemicals in cancer chemoprevention. Biochem Pharmacol 74(4):533–544
Fini L, Piazzi G, Daoud Y, Selgrad M, Maegawa S, Garcia M, Fogliano V, Romano M, Graziani G, Vitaglione P (2011) Chemoprevention of intestinal polyps in ApcMin/+ mice fed with western or balanced diets by drinking annurca apple polyphenol extract. Cancer Prevention Research 4(6):907–915
Wolfe K, Wu X, Liu RH (2003) Antioxidant activity of apple peels. J Agric Food Chem 51(3):609–614
Cline JM, Hughes CL Jr (1998) Phytochemicals for the prevention of breast and endometrial cancer. Biological and hormonal therapies of cancer. Springer, In, pp. 107–134
Zessner H, Pan L, Will F, Klimo K, Knauft J, Niewöhner R, Hümmer W, Owen R, Richling E, Frank N (2008) Fractionation of polyphenol-enriched apple juice extracts to identify constituents with cancer chemopreventive potential. Mol Nutr Food Res 52(S1):S28–S44
Telang NT, Katdare M, Bradlow HL, Osborne MP, Fishman J (1997) Inhibition of proliferation and modulation of estradiol metabolism: novel mechanisms for breast cancer prevention by the phytochemical indole-3-carbinol. Experimental Biology and Medicine 216(2):246–252
He X, Liu RH (2008) Phytochemicals of apple peels: isolation, structure elucidation, and their antiproliferative and antioxidant activities. J Agric Food Chem 56(21):9905–9910
Ribeiro FAP, de Moura CFG, Gollucke APB, Ferreira MS, Catharino RR, Aguiar O, Spadari RC, Barbisan LF, Ribeiro DA (2014) Chemopreventive activity of apple extract following medium-term oral carcinogenesis assay induced by 4-nitroquinoline-1-oxide. Arch Oral Biol 59(8):815–821
Gallus S, Talamini R, Giacosa A, Montella M, Ramazzotti V, Franceschi S, Negri E, La Vecchia C (2005) Does an apple a day keep the oncologist away? Ann Oncol 16(11):1841–1844
Acknowledgments
This study was supported by grants from Des Moines University for Yujiang Fang (IOER 05-14-01, IOER 112-3749 and IOER 112-3114).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
The authors have declared no conflicts of interest.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Davidson, K.T., Zhu, Z. & Fang, Y. Phytochemicals in the Fight Against Cancer. Pathol. Oncol. Res. 22, 655–660 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12253-016-0045-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12253-016-0045-x