Bioactive Compounds in Cancer Therapy and Chemoprevention

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The continuous increase in the number of cancer cases and rates of cancer-related mortality globally is a highly concerning issue. Drug-induced toxicity, drastic side effects and chemoresistance associated with conventional chemotherapeutics warrant the need for novel, efficient, and safer alternative therapeutic approaches to help combat cancer. Plants are a rich source of bioactive compounds with potential anti-cancer activity. Extensive research on the chemotherapeutic efficacy of various plant-derived bioactive compounds is being carried out across the world. While cancer chemoprevention approaches prevent, delay, or suppress tumor incidence, chemosensitization approaches employ synthetic or natural bioactive agents to enhance the efficacy of conventional chemotherapeutic drugs at lower doses. Numerous studies have documented the efficiency of both of these approaches in managing different types of cancer. The scope of this chapter encompasses a comprehensive analysis of the current status and limitations of conventional chemotherapeutics and the clinical relevance of chemoprevention and chemosensitization strategies for the effective management of cancer, with a special emphasis on the potency of some of the major phytochemicals that are extensively being studied as novel chemopreventives and/or chemosensitizers, globally. Besides, an overview of the underlying mechanisms of action of these phytochemicals in regulating the signal transduction events associated with cancer progression, has also been discussed in this chapter.