The Potential of Combinatorial Small Molecules as Effective Breast Cancer Treatments: A Clinical Approach

Abstract

Major obstacles in current breast cancer treatment efficacy are the ability of breast cancer cells to develop resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs and off-target cytotoxicity of these drugs on normal cells, leading to debilitating side effects. One major difference between cancer and normal cells is their metabolism as cancer cells acquire glycolytic and mitochondrial metabolism alterations throughout tumorigenesis. The book chapter objectives are as follows:

1. Review the disease that is breast cancer
2. Discuss the metabolic difference between breast cancer and normal mammary cells
3. Describe ow alternative breast cancer treatment options based on the application of phytochemicals in combination could be more effective than DNA-targeting agents

To accomplish this, we review the literature of three specific examples of phytochemicals, namely cinnamaldehyde, chlorogenic acid, and arctigenin, regarding their anti-breast cancer properties as a rationale to design a new (Western) approach to breast cancer treatment by refining an age-old (Eastern) approach to disease treatments. The interest in these particular phytochemical examples is that targeting the mitochondria - and cancer cell metabolism in particular, may generate a more effective anti-cancer treatment that significantly reduces off-target effects to normal cells.