Editorial: Natural products, medicinal foods and complementary and alternative medicine as cancer-preventive agents
Published Jul 6, 2023 · M. Zia‐ul‐Haq, R. Marc, Madiha Arslan
Frontiers in Pharmacology
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Abstract
Cancer is among the leading cause of death despite established treatment approaches, i.e., chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery, since none of the approaches are 100% effective. It is estimated that the causative agent of every sixth death globally is cancer (Arnold et al., 2022). Adverse outcomes are usually the major effects associated with treatment approaches, hence there is growing interest in exploring alternative strategies for cancer prevention. Natural products, medicinal foods, and complementary and alternative medicine (NP-MF-CAM) have gained attention as potential cancer-preventive agents. This Research Topic aims to showcase all relevant investigations about these approaches in reducing the risk of cancer and their integration into mainstream cancer prevention strategies. A total of 54 manuscripts were submitted to this Research Topic, of which only six were accepted, (three review articles and three research articles). The three review articles are about the antiproliferative potentials of salvianolic acid B, astragaloside IV (AS-IV), and aconitine. These metabolites are isolated from medicinal plants that are well-known in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for their anti-tumor use. One review article described the anticancer potential of salvianolic acid B, isolated from Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge (Xia et al.), which induces apoptosis in cancer cells by promoting ROS production and regulating energy metabolism, while another review highlighted the anticancer potential with the mechanism of AS-IV isolated from Radix Astragali, which has been neglected as an effective adjuvant drug for cancer treatment (Xia et al.; Guo and Wang). In the third review article, it was confirmed after a systematic review of preclinical studies that aconitine has a strong antitumor effect; however, further in vivo studies are required (Xiang et al.). OPEN ACCESS