Prevention of breast cancer by dietary polyphenols—role of cancer stem cells

Abstract

Breast cancer is a common malignancy with poor prognosis. Cancer cells are heterogeneous and cancer stem cells (CSCs) are primarily responsible for tumor relapse, treatment-resistance and metastasis, so for breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs). Diets are known to be associated with carcinogenesis. Food-derived polyphenols are able to attenuate the formation and virulence of BCSCs, implying that these compounds and their analogs might be promising agents for preventing breast cancer. In the present review, we summarized the origin and surface markers of BCSCs and possible mechanisms responsible for the inhibitory effects of polyphenols on BCSCs. The suppressive effects of common dietary polyphenols against BCSCs, such as curcumin, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) and related polyphenolic compounds were further discussed.

Keywords:

• Dietary polyphenols
• breast cancer stem cells
• mechanism
• differentiation
• proliferation

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31871806) and the National Dairy Industry Technology System-Beijing Innovation Team (Grant No. BAIC06-2018) to Xue-ying Mao, and the National Institutes for Health of USA (R01 HD067449) to Min Du.