Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Volume 2013 (2013), Article ID 698190, 1 page

http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/698190

Editorial

Natural Bioactives and Phytochemicals Serve in Cancer Treatment and Prevention

Shun-Fa Yang,1,2 Chia-Jui Weng,³ Gautam Sethi,⁴ and Dan-Ning Hu⁵

¹Institute of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung 402, Taiwan

²Department of Medical Research, Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, Taichung 402, Taiwan

³Graduate Institute of Applied Living Science, Tainan University of Technology, Tainan City 710, Taiwan

⁴Department of Pharmacology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 119077

⁵Tissue Culture Center, New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, New York Medical College, New York, NY 10009, USA

Received 5 December 2013; Accepted 5 December 2013

Copyright © 2013 Shun-Fa Yang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Natural bioactives or phytochemicals are generally referred to as the compounds that have specific biological activity in human. Studies have shown that natural phytochemicals derived from certain plants have the capability to prevent carcinogenesis. In this special issue, we collected numerous studies which provide novel evidence to support the opinion. For instance, [6]-gingerol prevents disassembly of cell junctions and activities of MMPs in invasive human pancreas cancer cells; butein inhibits angiogenesis of human endothelial progenitor cells; the anticancer effects of sterol fraction come from red algae porphyra dentata; zeaxanthin induces apoptosis in human uveal melanoma cells; and ocotillol enhanced the antitumor activity of doxorubicin. It is therefore believed that the appropriate application of natural bioactives or phytochemicals should be a supplementary and safe way to prevent carcinogenesis and/or to enhance the efficacy of cancer therapy.

Shun-Fa  Yang

Chia-Jui  Weng

Gautam  Sethi

Dan-Ning  Hu