Chapter 4
The Role of Phytochemicals in Cancer
Prevention and Cure
Braganza Cilwyn, Soundararajan Vijayarathna, Shanmugapriya,
Rameshwar Naidu Jegathambigai, Subramaniam Sreeramanan,
Yeng Chen, and Sreenivasan Sasidharan
Abstract The comprehensive search for therapeutic agents, predominantly the
green phytochemicals derived from plants, has recently gained high momentum.
Phytochemicals are plant’s (phyto) chemical referring to various types of compounds that occur naturally in plants. Green phytochemicals from Mother Nature
especially from medicinal plants are a rich source of novel therapeutics and prevention agents. Interestingly, their unique mechanism of action as compared with the
conventional drug mechanism against cancer cells made them a vital target for novel
drug discovery for cancer prevention and cure. Most plants do yield a vast array of
phytochemicals that play essential roles in cancer prevention and cure via various
biological activities and novel mechanisms of actions. Since cancer has a significant
impact on human health and contributes to mortality, it is appropriate to examine the
role of phytochemicals in cancer prevention and cure. This chapter provides a
comprehensive overview of the role of phytochemicals in cancer prevention and
cancer cures via antioxidant activity, pro-oxidant activity, apoptosis induction,
necrosis induction, autophagy induction and regulation of miRNA in cancer cells.
Keywords Phytochemical Á Cancer Á Apoptosis Á Necrosis Á Autophagy Á miRNA
B. Cilwyn Á S. Vijayarathna Á Shanmugapriya Á S. Sasidharan (&)
Institute for Research in Molecular Medicine (INFORMM), Universiti Sains Malaysia,
11800 USM, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
e-mail: srisasidharan@yahoo.com
R. N. Jegathambigai
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Asia Metropolitan University,
No 6 Jalan Lembah, 81750 Bandar Seri Alam, Johor Bahru, Malaysia
S. Sreeramanan
School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Minden, Penang, Malaysia
Y. Chen
Dental Research & Training Unit, and Oral Cancer Research and Coordinating Centre
(OC-RCC), Faculty of Dentistry, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
D. Pal and A. K. Nayak (eds.), Bioactive Natural Products
for Pharmaceutical Applications, Advanced Structured Materials 140,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54027-2_4
127
The Role of Phytochemicals in Cancer
Prevention and Cure
Braganza Cilwyn, Soundararajan Vijayarathna, Shanmugapriya,
Rameshwar Naidu Jegathambigai, Subramaniam Sreeramanan,
Yeng Chen, and Sreenivasan Sasidharan
Abstract The comprehensive search for therapeutic agents, predominantly the
green phytochemicals derived from plants, has recently gained high momentum.
Phytochemicals are plant’s (phyto) chemical referring to various types of compounds that occur naturally in plants. Green phytochemicals from Mother Nature
especially from medicinal plants are a rich source of novel therapeutics and prevention agents. Interestingly, their unique mechanism of action as compared with the
conventional drug mechanism against cancer cells made them a vital target for novel
drug discovery for cancer prevention and cure. Most plants do yield a vast array of
phytochemicals that play essential roles in cancer prevention and cure via various
biological activities and novel mechanisms of actions. Since cancer has a significant
impact on human health and contributes to mortality, it is appropriate to examine the
role of phytochemicals in cancer prevention and cure. This chapter provides a
comprehensive overview of the role of phytochemicals in cancer prevention and
cancer cures via antioxidant activity, pro-oxidant activity, apoptosis induction,
necrosis induction, autophagy induction and regulation of miRNA in cancer cells.
Keywords Phytochemical Á Cancer Á Apoptosis Á Necrosis Á Autophagy Á miRNA
B. Cilwyn Á S. Vijayarathna Á Shanmugapriya Á S. Sasidharan (&)
Institute for Research in Molecular Medicine (INFORMM), Universiti Sains Malaysia,
11800 USM, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
e-mail: srisasidharan@yahoo.com
R. N. Jegathambigai
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Asia Metropolitan University,
No 6 Jalan Lembah, 81750 Bandar Seri Alam, Johor Bahru, Malaysia
S. Sreeramanan
School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Minden, Penang, Malaysia
Y. Chen
Dental Research & Training Unit, and Oral Cancer Research and Coordinating Centre
(OC-RCC), Faculty of Dentistry, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
D. Pal and A. K. Nayak (eds.), Bioactive Natural Products
for Pharmaceutical Applications, Advanced Structured Materials 140,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54027-2_4
127