Immunomodulatory phytochemicals for chemoprevention

Abstract

Chemoprevention and chemotherapeutics with traditional and complimentary system has gained importance with increase in the relapse cases treated with modern system of medicine. The increased mortality rate due to severe toxicity is another concern. The role of phytochemicals from different class viz-dietary polyphenols and saponins in chemoprevention along with different mechanistic pathways has created remarkable progress as the toxicity issues are of lesser concern. Phytochemicals can prevent the carcinogenesis process via antioxidant or anti-inflammatory action by modulating the proteins involved in different pathways like NF-kB, Nrf-2, AP-1, MAPK, and COX-2. In this review, we have focused on the potential molecular targets and signalling pathways that provoke the tumorigenesis process and the various phytochemicals that are targeted towards these signalling pathways by chemoprevention.