oa Editorial [ Hot Topic:Cancer Chemoprevention: Progress and Perspectives (Guest Editor: Stefanos Bonovas)]

Cancer is the third leading cause of death worldwide, with more than 12 million new cases and 7.6 million cancer deaths estimated to have occurred in 2007. By year 2030, it is projected that there will be about 26 million new cancer cases and 17 million cancer deaths per year [1-3]. The magnitude of the cancer problem, and the failure of advanced disease chemotherapy to effect major reductions in the mortality rates for the common types of malignancy, such as carcinoma of the breast, colon, lung, prostate and pancreas, indicate that new approaches to the control of cancer are necessary. In this context, it is essential to adopt a more intensive approach to the prevention of this disease. Chemoprevention is an innovative area of cancer research that focuses on cancer prevention through pharmacological, biological, and nutritional interventions [4]. As first defined by Sporn in 1976 [5], cancer chemoprevention uses natural, synthetic, or biological chemical agents to reverse, suppress, or prevent either the initial phase of carcinogenesis or the progression of neoplastic cells to cancer [6-10]. In recent years, there has been an exponential increase in the study and development of novel cancer chemopreventive agents for several tumor types, yet many challenges are ahead. I guest-edited the present issue of Current Drug Targets aiming to bring together a number of leading experts in the field of cancer chemoprevention, who would systematically review the evidence; discuss the clinical and experimental data; highlight new approaches and promising directions for future research. In this sense, the present issue provides state-of-the-art reviews in this rapidly expanding field. Taking these aspects into consideration, in the first work of this issue, Victor Vogel [11] discusses the clinical and epidemiological evidence regarding selective estrogen receptor modulators and aromatase inhibitors for breast cancer chemoprevention. In the second work, Moreira and Castells [12] review the role of cyclooxygenase as a target for colorectal cancer chemoprevention, with special attention to the use of selective and non-selective cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors in both individuals genetically predisposed and those who have already developed a colorectal neoplasm. In the third paper, Epifano, Curini, Marcotullio, and Genovese [13] examine in detail the current literature regarding the anticancer and chemopreventive properties of phytopreparations or individual active compounds obtained from edible plants belonging to the genus Zanthoxylum. In the next work of this issue, Jacobs, Kodach, and Hardwick [14] summarise the evidence for the chemopreventative efficacy of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors with special emphasis on their proposed molecular mechanisms of action and their potential for individualised colorectal cancer chemoprevention. In another very interesting work, Ferrari, Tosetti, De Flora, Donatelli, Noonan, and Albini [15] extend the concept of cancer prevention; to phytochemical protection of cancer therapy associated cardiac toxicity. The authors discuss the mechanisms responsible for the cardiotoxicity of anticancer drugs, the possibility to prevent them, and provide examples of diet-derived phytochemicals and other biological substances that could be exploited for protecting the cardiovascular system according to a joint cardio-oncological preventative approach....