Flavonoids in cancer therapy: current and future trends

Flavonoids are a family of polyphenolic photochemical that are naturally found in plants. Flavonoids have been widely studied due to the curiosity of scientists about the implementation of nature to human health. These experimental and epidemiological studies showed that flavonoids have beneficial effects such as antioxidation, antiinflammation, antiplatelet, antiallergic, antiaging, antidiabetic, and anticarcinogenic activity. They can also interact with and regulate cellular proteins, transcription factors, and signaling enzymes at the molecular level. Cancer is one of the most common problems in human health and millions of people die due to cancer every year. Due to the lack of completely efficient therapies for most cancer patients, new approaches should be discovered. Flavonoids have been investigated and many studies have confirmed their importance as a therapy option in many diseases. In this chapter we review the use of flavonoids as therapeutical agents and prevention for cancer, including the recent studies as well as future perspectives in the field.