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Abstract:
Innovative developments are necessary for treating and defeating cancer, an oftentimes deadly group of diseases characterized by the uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal cells. Breast cancer (BC) is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths of women in the USA, and prostate cancer (PC) is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths of American men. Although some efficacious BC drugs are pharmaceutically marketed, they affect the quality of life for some patients because they are toxic in that their usages have been accompanied by side effects such as stroke, thrombosis, slow heart rate, seizure, increased blood pressure, nausea, emesis, and more. Therefore, there is an urgent need for the discovery of molecular markers for early detection of this disease and discovery of targets for the development of novel, less toxic therapeutics. A botanical plant Vernonia amygdalina has been widely used in Nigerian and other Central and West African cultures for centuries as an herbal medicine. Mounting evidence suggests that treatment with low concentrations of aqueous leaf extracts of the edible Nigerian V. amygdalina plant (Niger-VA) arrests the proliferative activities and induces apoptosis in estrogen receptor-positive, estrogen receptor-negative, and triple-negative human breast cancerous cells and in androgen-independent human PC-3. Also, in athymic mice, Niger-VA potentiates increased efficacies and optimizes treatment outcomes when given as a cotreatment with conventional chemotherapy drugs. Evidence of its noticeable cytostatic activities ranging from changes in DNA synthesis to growth inhibition, mechanisms of inducing apoptosis in different cancer cell lines, and in vivo antitumorigenic activities and chemopreventive efficacy reinforce the idea that Niger-VA deserves increased attention for further development as a phytoceutical, anticancer drug entity. Hence, the present review article highlights impactful published literature on the anticancer effects of Niger-VA in multiple cancerous cell lines and in a nude mouse model, supporting its potential usefulness as a natural product, chemotherapeutic medicine for treatment of both BC and PC.
Acknowledgments
The research reported in this manuscript was supported by grants from the following agencies: US Department of Education, Strengthening Environmental Science Ph D Programs Through Research (grant #P031E090210), National Center for Research Resources (grant #5 G12 RR013459-15), and the National Institutes on Minority Health and Health Disparities (grant #8 G12 MD007581-15) from the National Institutes of Health and Transforming the Climate and Advancing STEM Women at Jackson State University, an HBCU in the South (JSUAdvance) from the National Science Foundation (NSF Award #1008708). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations are those of the authors and do not reflect the view of NSF. We acknowledge the photographers Stefan Dressler for the Vernonia amygdalina Delile photo taken in Cameroon and Robert V Blittersdorff for the photos taken in Tanzania, Rukwa, Sumbawanga and Muse.
Disclosure
The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.