The Immunomodulatory Potential of Selected Bioactive Plant-Based Compounds in Breast Cancer: A Review

Breast cancer has continued to cause high cancer death rates among women worldwide. The use of plants' natural products in breast cancer treatment has received more attention in recent years due to their potentially wider safety margin and the potential to complement conventional chemotherapeutic drugs. Plant-based products have demonstrated anticancer potential through different biological pathways including modulation of the immune system. Immunomodulatory properties of medicinal plants have been shown to mitigate breast cancer cell growth. Different immune cell types participate in this process especially cytotoxic T cells and natural killer cells, and cytokines including chemokines and tumor necrosis factor-alpha. Medicinal plants such as Glycyrrhiza glabra, Uncaria tomentosa, Camellia sinensis, Panax ginseng, Prunus armenaica (apricot), Allium sativum, Arctium lappa and Curcuma longa were reported to hold strong potential in breast cancer treatment in various parts of the world. Interestingly, research findings have shown that these plants possess bioactive immunomodulators as their main constituents producing the anticancer effects. These immunomodulatory compounds include ajoene, arctigenin, beta-carotene, curcumin, epigallocatechin-3-gallate, ginsan, glabridin and quinic acid. In this review, we discussed the ability of these eight immunomodulators in regulating the immune system potentially applicable in breast cancer treatment via anti-inflammatory (curcumin, arctigenin, glabridin and ajoene) and lymphocytes activation (beta-carotene, epigallocatechin-3-gallate, quinic acid and ginsan) properties, as well as future research direction in their use for breast cancer treatment.