Title:Potential of Anti-inflammatory Molecules in the Chemoprevention of
Breast Cancer
Volume: 16
Issue: 2
Author(s): Vaishnavi Gadi and Saritha Rakesh Shetty*
Affiliation:
- Shobhaben Pratapbhai Patel School of Pharmacy & Technology Management, SVKMS Narsee Monjee Institute of
Management Studies, Mumbai-56, Maharashtra, India
Keywords:
NSAIDs, COX-2 inhibitor, dietary phytochemical, anti-oxidant, apoptosis, angiogenesis, prostaglandin, chemopreventive.
Abstract: Breast cancer is a global issue, affecting greater than 1 million women per annum.
Over the past two decades, there have been numerous clinical trials involving the use of various
pharmacological substances as chemopreventive agents for breast cancer. Various pre-clinical as
well as clinical studies have established numerous anti-inflammatory molecules, including nonsteroidal
anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and dietary phytochemicals as promising agents for
chemoprevention of several cancers, including breast cancer. The overexpression of COX-2 has
been detected in approximately 40% of human breast cancer cases and pre-invasive ductal carcinoma
in-situ lesions, associated with aggressive elements of breast cancer such as large size of the
tumour, ER/PR negative and HER-2 overexpression, among others. Anti-inflammatory molecules
inhibit COX, thereby inhibiting the formation of prostaglandins and inhibiting nuclear factor-κBmediated
signals (NF-kB). Another probable explanation entails inflammation-induced degranulation,
with the production of angiogenesis-regulating factors, such as vascular endothelial growth
factor, which can be possibly regulated by anti-inflammatory molecules. Apart from NSAIDS,
many dietary phytochemicals have the ability to decrease, delay, or stop the progression and/or
incidence of breast cancer by their antioxidant action, regulating inflammatory and proliferative
cell signalling pathways as well as inducing apoptosis. The rapid progress in chemoprevention
research has also established innovative strategies that can be implemented to prevent breast cancer.
This article gives a comprehensive overview of the recent advancements in using antiinflammatory
molecules in the chemoprevention of breast cancer along with their mechanism of
action, supported by latest preclinical and clinical data. The merits of anti-inflammatory chemopreventive
agents in the prevention of cardiotoxicity have been described. We have also highlighted
the ongoing research and advancements in improving the efficacy of using antiinflammatory
molecules as chemopreventive agents.