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Review
. 2020 May 18;4(7):154-166.
doi: 10.15698/cst2020.07.224.

Immune system activation by natural products and complex fractions: a network pharmacology approach in cancer treatment

Alejandra Gomez-Cadena  1   2   3 , Alfonso Barreto  3 , Susana Fioretino  3 , Camilla Jandus  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Immune system activation by natural products and complex fractions: a network pharmacology approach in cancer treatment

Alejandra Gomez-Cadena et al. Cell Stress. .

Abstract

Natural products and traditional herbal medicine are an important source of alternative bioactive compounds but very few plant-based preparations have been scientifically evaluated and validated for their potential as medical treatments. However, a promising field in the current therapies based on plant-derived compounds is the study of their immunomodulation properties and their capacity to activate the immune system to fight against multifactorial diseases like cancer. In this review we discuss how network pharmacology could help to characterize and validate natural single molecules or more complex preparations as promising cancer therapies based on their multitarget capacities.

Keywords: cancer; herbal medicine; immune response; immunogenic cell death; immunomodulation; natural products; network pharmacology.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: None of the authors declares any conflict of interest.

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