Role of Phytochemicals in Regulation of Cancer Cells: A Comprehensive Literature Review

Abstract

We reviewed different compounds derived from plants and their role in the treatment of various types of cancer cell lines. The herbal treatment has the least side effects as compared to the other treatments such as chemotherapy. Therefore, plant derivatives are considered as significant agent for treatment of cancer cells. As cancers are caused by the abnormal proliferation of cells, the extracted plant compounds induce apoptosis within the cancer cells through extrinsic or intrinsic pathway to inhibit the proliferation. Mitochondria have its major contribution in initiating apoptosis as it controls the level of cytochrome c. Many other regulatory proteins including p53 also support the inhibition of cell proliferation in cancer cell and induces fragmentation of DNA via apoptosis. Regulation of mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase and cleavage of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase are the promoters and inhibitors of apoptosis. A cascade of caspases is also the functioning components of apoptosis induction and the expression of caspases control whether the pathway taken is intrinsic or extrinsic. Various compounds extracted from plants are discovered to be effective against the cancer cells.