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Review
. 2019 Oct 23;20(21):5267.
doi: 10.3390/ijms20215267.

Nutraceutical Compounds as Sensitizers for Cancer Treatment in Radiation Therapy

Marco Calvaruso  1 , Gaia Pucci  2 , Rosa Musso  3 , Valentina Bravatà  4 , Francesco P Cammarata  5 , Giorgio Russo  6 , Giusi I Forte  7 , Luigi Minafra  8
Affiliations
Review

Nutraceutical Compounds as Sensitizers for Cancer Treatment in Radiation Therapy

Marco Calvaruso et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

The improvement of diagnostic techniques and the efficacy of new therapies in clinical practice have allowed cancer patients to reach a higher chance to be cured together with a better quality of life. However, tumors still represent the second leading cause of death worldwide. On the contrary, chemotherapy and radiotherapy (RT) still lack treatment plans which take into account the biological features of tumors and depend on this for their response to treatment. Tumor cells' response to RT is strictly-connected to their radiosensitivity, namely, their ability to resist and to overcome cell damage induced by ionizing radiation (IR). For this reason, radiobiological research is focusing on the ability of chemical compounds to radiosensitize cancer cells so to make them more responsive to IR. In recent years, the interests of researchers have been focused on natural compounds that show antitumoral effects with limited collateral issues. Moreover, nutraceuticals are easy to recover and are thus less expensive. On these bases, several scientific projects have aimed to test also their ability to induce tumor radiosensitization both in vitro and in vivo. The goal of this review is to describe what is known about the role of nutraceuticals in radiotherapy, their use and their potential application.

Keywords: cancer; nutraceuticals; radiotherapy.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The figure displays how nutraceuticals compounds and radiation treatment could affect cellular pathways involved in migration, inflammation, autophagy and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The figure displays the main sources of natural compounds cited in this review.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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