Targeting triple-negative breast cancer signaling via phytonanomedicine

Official URL: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-443-40511-2.00022-X

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) displays the worst prognosis compared to other breast cancer subtypes due to its heterogeneous complexity, aggressive, and metastatic phenotype of breast cancer, which includes approximately 15%–20% of all breast cancer cases. There is no specific clinically available treatment for the effective management of TNBC and existing conventional breast cancer therapies are used for the treatment of TNBC. Due to the complex molecular characteristics associated with TNBC, conventional chemotherapeutics do not produce significant effects and cause relapse after treatment. The improvement of chemotherapy resistance through various molecular targets further compromises drug efficacy. Novel phytochemicals have been investigated in addition to traditional chemotherapeutic drugs for the treatment of TNBC, but delivery of these agents remains challenging. Various nanotechnology-based therapeutic interventions, referred to as nanomedicines, are currently being investigated to enable the targetability of these therapeutics. This chapter focuses on novel therapeutic strategies using nanomedicines combined with phytochemicals in the treatment of TNBC.