Breast cancer, widely recognized as the leading and most varied malignancy in women worldwide, poses significant healthcare challenges. Contemporary anticancer strategies using biomedical approaches incorporate surgery, chemotherapy, targeted, and endocrine therapy. Nonetheless, these strategies often depict a host of limitations, encompassing postoperative complications, recurrences and metastases, & numerous side-effects. Further exacerbating the issue, drug resistance often leads to breast cancer treatments becoming ineffective.
Several groundbreaking studies on breast cancer have recently highlighted the value of multi-target drug development. Phytochemicals, with paclitaxel as a notable and well established example, have demonstrated considerable antitumor potential, which has inspired their development into anticancer pharmaceuticals. This stimulus for anti-cancer pharmaceutical development is largely due to paclitaxel's pharmacological effects both in vitro and in vivo and the subsequent clinical studies. In in vitro studies, paclitaxel promotes the assembly of microtubules from tubulin dimers and stabilizes microtubules by preventing depolymerization, thereby inhibiting the normal dynamic reorganization of the microtubule network required for vital interphase and mitotic cellular functions. These cellular disruptions trigger programmed cell death or apoptosis. In vivo, aside from its cytotoxic effects on tumor cells, paclitaxel also has anti-angiogenic properties that hinder the growth of new blood vessels necessary for tumors to grow and metastasize, therefore exerting a broader therapeutic effect against cancer.
Concurrently, the many traditional systems globally have made important contributions to breast cancer treatment and to managing symptoms. While the topic puts a strong emphasis on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the research topic is open for submissions investigating preparations from many medical tradition.
TCM, for example, based on a complex philosophical background and a strong empirical basis in treating breast cancer, offers opportunities for adjuvant treatments as well as for drug discovery strategies. Systematic observations and detailed pharmacological experiments concerning possible drug targets and drug mechanisms have proven certain classic Chinese medicine formulas and TCM-derived chemical compounds to hold promise in breast cancer therapy and prevention. Highlighting its multi-target engagement, TCM has emerged as an important player in cancer therapeutics. Pharmacological approaches are crucial to identifying and evaluating the potential of TCM preparations or TCM-derived single metabolites and their semi-synthetic derivatives as therapeutics. Innovations in computational approaches, large-scale screening techniques, and the advent of artificial intelligence technologies offer promising avenues to unlock the potential of natural medicines.
Despite the significant research currently being conducted in the field of plant-derived anti-cancer agents, there is a lack of translational research, in order to develop outcomes at the discovery phase to the development of clinically viable treatments. These obstacles include hurdles in preclinical development, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic issues, as well as difficulties related to clinical trial design and implementation. The mechanisms of action of plant-derived metabolites are often not fully understood, and issues such as poor solubility and low membrane permeability can hinder progress. There are challenges related to the variability in the quality and consistency of natural compounds, scalability of production, intellectual property issues, and regulatory hurdles. There also remain important challenges in terms of experimental reproducibility and applicability. Consequently, there remains a significant gap in the advancement stages of the pipeline for these potential treatments.
This research topic offers a platform to discuss recent advancements in the identification, assessment, and development of TCM-drugs, or metabolites derived from these, as potential treatments for breast cancer, and to identify future research directions and opportunities. We are appreciative of submissions covering, but not limited to, the following areas:
• Pharmacological approaches to drug discovery for breast-cancer and related diseases, including breast cancer as such, breast cystic hyperplasia, and breast fibroadenoma, using TCM-preparations, or metabolites derived from them. This may include the use of AI technology or computational approaches in potential drug discovery or design if (!) these are combined with pharmacological (experimental) approaches.
• Identification, characterization, and optimization of herbal medicinal products derived from any medical tradition globally for breast cancer
• Studies of the anti-cancer effect and mechanisms of preparations used traditionally in the (adjuvant) treatment of breast cancer and metabolites derived from them, including in vivo studies and clinical research.
• Studies focusing on overcoming the barriers in the development of initial leads into therapeutically relevant medications. This includes their biopharmaceutical characteristics, such as overcoming low solubility or limited membrane permeability, Therefore, submissions may also incorporate studies to augment these attributes or research on novel drug delivery systems.
• Combination therapies employing commercial herbal medical products for treating breast cancer.
• As the regulation of immune responses has been proven effective in combating tumors, we also welcome investigations based on the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME), particularly those focusing on the regulatory mechanisms influenced by TCM.
Important Note:
All contributions to this Research Topic must follow the guideline listed in this section:
• The introduction should describe the background of the research object and provide bibliographical references that illustrate its recent application in general healthcare.
• Research-baseded solely on in silico approaches (e.g., network studies or docking experiments) does not fit with the scopes of this SI.
• Small molecules exhibiting in silico or in vitro effects but without specific pharmacological targets do not fit with the scopes of this SI.
• Chemical anti-oxidant assays like the DPPH or ABTS assay are of no pharmacological relevance, Therefore they can only be used a chemical-analytical assays without pharmacological claims.
• Please self-assess your MS using the ConPhyMP tool, and follow the standards established in the ConPhyMP statement Front. Pharmacol. 13:953205. All the manuscripts need to fully comply with the
Four Pillars of Best Practice in Ethnopharmacology (you can freely download the full version
here). Importantly, please ascertain that the ethnopharmacological context is clearly described (pillar 3d) and that the material investigated is characterized in detail (
pillars 2 a and b).