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An Overview of the Current Development of Phytoremedies for Breast Cancer

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Materia Medica for Various Cancers

Part of the book series: Evidence-based Anticancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine ((ACAM,volume 2))

Abstract

Breast cancer is one of the main causes of death by cancer in women, with an alarming year-by-year increase in incidence. Conventional cancer therapies, including surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, endocrine therapy, and targeted therapy, play an important role in the treatment of breast cancer; however, drug resistance, severe side effect, and high recurrent rate significantly limit the effectiveness of current clinical treatments. Plant-based system has been used for treatment or prevention of various human diseases throughout history. The pressing need for development of new therapeutic or preventive agents for breast cancer has spurred the search for bioactive phytocompounds with novel modes of action. In this chapter, we review the current limitation of conventional chemo- or targeted-therapeutic drugs for breast cancer, and summarize some potential novel phytoagents discovered from dietary vegetables or traditional herbal medicines as alternative options or future medicine for breast cancer. We explore the mechanistic insights of these natural phytoagents against various types of breast cancer and discuss their therapeutic potential, alone or in combination, with current clinical drugs.

† equally contribution

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Agricultural Biotechnology Research Center, Academia Sinica, Nankang, Taipei, 115, Taiwan

    Chun-Hung Lin, Wai-Leng Lee & Lie-Fen Shyur

  2. Department of Biochemical Science and Technology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 106, Taiwan

    Chun-Hung Lin & Lie-Fen Shyur

  3. Molecular and Biological Agricultural Sciences Program, Taiwan International Graduate Program; Graduate Institute of Biotechnology, National Chung-Hsing University, Taichung, 402, Taiwan

    Wai-Leng Lee & Lie-Fen Shyur

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  1. Chun-Hung Lin
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Correspondence to Lie-Fen Shyur .

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  1. Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Department of Clinical Oncology, Room 1305, 13/F, Block R, Gascoigne Road 30, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China, People's Republic

    William C.S. Cho

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Lin, CH., Lee, WL., Shyur, LF. (2012). An Overview of the Current Development of Phytoremedies for Breast Cancer. In: Cho, W. (eds) Materia Medica for Various Cancers. Evidence-based Anticancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1983-5_3

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