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Cancer incidence keeps increasing every year around the world and is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Cancer has imposed a major burden on the human population, including the deterioration of physical and mental health as well as economic or financial loss among cancer patients. Conventional cancer treatments including chemotherapy, surgery, and radiotherapy have improved the mortality rate. However, conventional treatments have many challenges; for example, drug resistance, side effects, and cancer recurrence. Chemoprevention is one of the promising interventions to reduce the burden of cancer together with cancer treatments and early detection. Pterostilbene is a natural chemopreventive compound with various pharmacological properties such as anti-oxidant, anti-proliferative, and anti-inflammatory properties. Moreover, pterostilbene, due to its potential chemopreventive effect on inducing apoptosis in eliminating the mutated cells or preventing the progression of premalignant cells to cancerous cells, should be explored as a chemopreventive agent. Hence, in the review, we discuss the role of pterostilbene as a chemopreventive agent against various types of cancer via its modulation of the apoptosis pathway at the molecular levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Oleuropein is a form of phenolic compound which can be majorly found in the olive leaves. Previous studies have shown several biological functions of oleuropein against different cancer cells. Aim and Objectives: This research was designed to study the pre-initiation effect of oleuropein on the early skin tumour development using a mouse model. Material and Methods: Female Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) mice (n=6 per group) were divided into 2 groups (group 1 as a carcinogen control and group 2 as a vehicle control) and 1 treatment group (group 3: 10 mg/kg of oleuropein). Results: After 10 weeks, Group 3 showed delay in epidermal hyperplasia formation and a significant reduction (p<0.05) in the epidermal thickness as compared to Group 1. Data were also displayed a significant increase (p<0.05) in the apoptotic rate in Group 3 as compared to Group 1 and 2. For biochemical assays, the level of Malondialdehyde (MDA) was significantly (p<0.05) decreased whilst the levels of Glutathione (GSH) and Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) were significantly (p<0.05) increased in Group 3 as compared to Group 1. Conclusion: Our results indicate that pre-initiation treatment of oleuropein may prevent skin tumour development through its antioxidant and apoptotic activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths, and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is one of the most common types of lung cancer. Chemoprevention of lung cancer has gained increasing popularity as an alternative to treatment in reducing the burden of lung cancer. Pterostilbene (PS) may be developed as a chemopreventive agent due to its pharmacological activities, such as anti-proliferative, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. This study aimed to investigate the effect of PS on the development of lung SCC in the mouse model., Methods: A total of 24 seven-week-old female Balb/C mice were randomly categorised into four groups, including two control groups comprising the N-nitroso-trischloroethylurea (NTCU)-induced lung SCC and vehicle control (VC) groups and two treatment groups comprising the 10mg/kg PS (PS10) and 50mg/kg PS (PS50) groups. All lung organs were harvested at week 26 for histopathological analysis., Results: All PS treatment groups showed chemopreventive activity by inhibiting the progression of lung SCC formation with PS10, resulting in mild hyperplasia, and PS50 was completely reversed in the normal bronchial epithelium layer compared with the VC group. PS treatment also reduced the expression of cytokeratin 5/6 in the bronchial epithelium layer. Both PS10 and PS50 significantly reduced the epithelium thickness compared to the NTCU group (p<0.05). PS is a potential chemopreventive agent against lung SCC growth by suppressing the progression of pre-malignant lesions and reducing the thickness of the bronchial epithelium., Conclusions: The underlying molecular mechanisms of PS in lung SCC should be further studied.