Plant Derived Bioactive Compounds, Their Anti-Cancer Effects and In Silico Approaches as an Alternative Target Treatment Strategy for Breast Cancer: An Updated Overview

Abstract

Simple Summary Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of death among women worldwide. Breast cancer may be provoked due to several physical, chemical and environmental factors. Moreover, genetic alternations that are inherited via generations may be a reason for the occurrence of cancer. When the cancer is benign, several therapeutic approaches are available to treat it. In case of malignancy, cancer may spread to other body parts and lead to death. Recent studies focus on the use of indigenous medicinal plants for the treatment of various cancers and particularly breast cancer. This could be an alternative to other treatment methods, as they cause minimal side effects when compared to chemo-drugs. In addition to that, high-throughput omics tools have paved the way for efficient drug targeting, and it would be a promising application for finding the interaction of drug molecules in human systems. Cancer is one of the most common malignant diseases that occur worldwide, among which breast cancer is the second leading cause of death in women. The subtypes are associated with differences in the outcome and were selected for treatments according to the estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and human epidermal growth factor receptor. Triple-negative breast cancer, one of the subtypes of breast cancer, is difficult to treat and can even lead to death. If breast cancer is not treated during the initial stages, it may spread to nearby organs, a process called metastasis, through the blood or lymph system. For in vitro studies, MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, MDA-MB-468, and T47B are the most commonly used breast cancer cell lines. Clinically, chemotherapy and radiotherapy are usually expensive and can also cause side effects. To overcome these issues, medicinal plants could be the best alternative for chemotherapeutic drugs with fewer side effects and cost-effectiveness. Furthermore, the genes involved in breast cancer can be regulated and synergized with signaling molecules to suppress the proliferation of breast cancer cells. In addition, nanoparticles encapsulating (nano-encapsulation) medicinal plant extracts showed a significant reduction in the apoptotic and cytotoxic activities of breast cancer cells. This present review mainly speculates an overview of the native medicinal plant derived anti-cancerous compounds with its efficiency, types and pathways involved in breast cancer along with its genes, the mechanism of breast cancer brain metastasis, chemoresistivity and its mechanism, bioinformatics approaches which could be an effective alternative for drug discovery.