Natural Compounds with Anticancer Therapeutic Potential for Combating Ecotoxic Carcinogens

Cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled proliferation of cells, and it is caused due to the complex interaction of many cancer-causing factors that change the normal functioning of some genes; these factors may be internal causing mutation, or they may be ecotoxic carcinogens. Ecotoxic carcinogens are the agents that are present in our environment and exposure to them can increase the risk of cancer. These include aflatoxins, arsenic, asbestos, coke-oven emissions, tobacco smoke, wood dust, and indoor emissions from the household combustion of coal, etc. Nature has provided us with an enormous source of natural compounds which have application in various fields such as medicine, cosmetics industry, food, and nutrition, etc. Nature and the natural compounds are serving as a boon to mankind. The medicinal application of natural compounds is one of the most prominent applications of plant products. Plant products have been playing a very important role in the treatment of cancer, as many anticancer drugs have been developed from plant products, such as vinca alkaloids (vinblastine, vincristine, and vindesine), the epipodophyllotoxins (etoposide and teniposide), the taxanes (paclitaxel and docetaxel) and the camptothecin derivatives (camptothecin and irinotecan), etc. The plant-derived anti-cancer drugs have benefits such as easy availability, cost-effectiveness, and fewer side effects. This book chapter will emphasize the various ecotoxic carcinogens and numerous plant-derived anticancer drugs, with their mechanism of action.

Keywords: Amphiboles, Anthropogenic, Apoptosis, Chromosomal aberrations, DNA adducts, DNA methylation, Genotoxic, Nitropolyaromatic, Oncogenes.