Table 3.
Phytochemicals enhancing conventional anticancer strategies (current state of clinical evidence)
| Phytochemical | Study design | Year | Study participants (number) | Results | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese medicine | Pilot randomized controlled trial | 2021 | Patients randomized to receive chemotherapy plus Chinese medicine or chemotherapy alone | Enhanced effectiveness (lower CEA, CA 125, CA 153) and mitigated side effects (cardiac events, less significant reduction of white blood cells, better hepatic function) of trastuzumab-containing chemotherapy | [86] |
| FMD | Multicentre randomized phase 2 DIRECT trial | 2020 | Patients with neoadjuvant chemotherapy for HER2-negative stage II/III (n = 131) | More likely occurring Miller and Payne 4/5 pathological response that indicates 90–100% tumour-cell loss, and reduced DNA damage in lymphocytes induced by chemotherapy | [87] |
| Curcumin combined with paclitaxel | Comparative, randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial | 2020 | Advanced, metastatic breast cancer patients (n = 150) | Curcumin and paclitaxel combination demonstrated to be superior to paclitaxel-placebo group (ORR and physical performance); curcumin demonstrated no safety issues, no reduction of QoL; curcumin could be also an effective agent to reduce fatigue | [88] |
| Combination therapy including chemotherapeutic regimens and arglabin | Randomized controlled trial | 2018 | LABC patients (n = 93)—experimental and control groups | Arglabin included in AC regimen resulted in an increase in 3-year disease-free survival by 28% when compared with standard regimen | [89] |
| Fresh yellow onion | Parallel-design, randomized, triple-blind, controlled clinical trial | 2017 | BC patients (n = 56) diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma following the second cycle of doxorubicin-based chemotherapy | Ameliorated insulin resistance and hyperglycaemia | [90] |
BC; breast cancer, CA-125, cancer antigen 125; CA-153, cancer antigen 153; CEA, carcinoembryonic antigen; DNA, deoxyribonucleic acid; FMD, fasting mimicking diet; HER2, human epidermal growth factors receptor 2; LABC, locally advanced breast cancer; ORR, objective response rate; QoL, quality of life