REVIEW article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Pharmacology of Anti-Cancer Drugs
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1677380
This article is part of the Research TopicNanomedicine and Phytotherapy in Cancer: A New Era of Alternative TherapeuticsView all articles
Overcoming Cancer Drug Resistance: Insights into Apoptotic Pathway Modulation by Plant based Nanoparticle and Natural Products
Provisionally accepted
- 1BMK Government Girls College, Balod, India
- 2Cleveland State University, Cleveland, United States
- 3Government VYT PG Autonomous College Durg, Durg, India
- 4Department of Biochemistry, University of Allahabad, Allahabad, India
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Cancer is a complex progressive disease, characterized by uncontrolled cell growth, posing a serious global health problem across the population. The traditional treatments for this disease include chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation therapy, forming the backbone of care. However, over time, tumor cells often develop resistance to these treatments, making drug resistance a leading factor in disease progression and poor clinical outcomes for some patients. Cancer drug resistance is multifaceted at both the molecular and cellular levels. An important mechanism through which cancer cells acquire resistance to multiple drugs is dysregulated apoptosis (programmed cell death). This compromised apoptotic pathway resulted in prolongs cancer cell survival, accumulation of mutations that promote angiogenesis, stimulation of cell proliferation, impaired differentiation, and enhanced invasiveness during tumor progression. In the past few years, plant-derived natural products have garnered attention as promising therapeutic agents against drug-resistant cancers due to their minimal side effects and potent anticancer properties. However, their clinical application faces several challenges, including poor solubility, limited absorption, restricted tissue distribution, and rapid metabolism. An effective approach to address these limitations involves utilising nanoparticles and nanomaterials, which can improve pharmacokinetics, enhance tumor-specific targeting, minimize side effects, and overcome drug resistance. This review delves into the fundamental molecular pathways associated with apoptosis and explores how phytochemicals and plant extracts, in combination with conventional drugs and plant-based nanoparticles can be utilized to treat cancer as well as cancer drug resistance by modulating its programmed cell death network.
Keywords: Apoptosis, Natural Products, Drug Resistance, Cancer, nanoparticle
Received: 31 Jul 2025; Accepted: 26 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Singh, Kushwaha, Singh and Pandey. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Abhay K. Pandey, akpandey23@rediffmail.com
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