Xenobiotic metabolism involves the biochemical modification of drugs and phytochemicals in living organisms, including humans and other animals. In the intestine, the gut microbiota catalyzes the conversion of hydrophilic drugs into absorbable, hydrophobic compounds through hydroxyzation and reduction. Drugs and phytochemicals are transformed into bioactive (sulfasalazine, lovastatin, and ginse...

Skin is the largest human organ, our protection against various environmental assaults and noxious agents. Accumulation of these stress events may lead to the formation of skin cancers, including both melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers. Although modern targeted therapies have ameliorated the management of cutaneous malignancies, a safer, more affordable, and more effective strategy for chem...

Cell migration is a major process that drives metastatic progression of cancers, the major cause of cancer death. Existing chemotherapeutic drugs have limited efficacy to prevent and/or treat metastasis, emphasizing the need for new treatments. We focus on triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), the subtype of breast cancer with worst prognosis and no standard chemotherapy protocols. Here we demo...

Epidemiological studies have consistently shown that regular consumption of fruits and vegetables is strongly associated with reduced risk of developing chronic diseases, such as cancer and cardiovascular disease. It is now widely believed that the actions of the antioxidant nutrients alone do not explain the observed health benefits of diets rich in fruits and vegetables, because taken alone, ...

Worldwide herbal medicines have been used traditionally for the prevention and treatment of various diseases as these are rich source of bioactive phytochemicals or bionutrients. Past three decades, studies carried out had shown that these phytochemicals have an important role in preventing chronic diseases like cancer, diabetes and coronary heart disease. The disease – preventing functions tha...

background & aim: fabaceae plant family cow tail (smirnovia iranica) is one of the valuable species of native shrubs and sand dunes in the central region of iran which is consistent with the production of forage and soil conservation and creating a beautiful landscape; it has the active ingredients of medicinal values. the purpose of this study was to investigate the presence of some phytoc...

The increasing consumption of Phytomedicine in Nigeria has led to a continuous use of plant parts. There is therefore an uncontrolled harvesting of plant parts from the wild. There are many trees showing various degrees of debarking while some regrown barks were equally re-debarked. The pattern of debarking and regrowth and its implication on the quality of tree barks in phytomedicine and the d...

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder caused by poor or ineffective insulin secretary response and it is characterized by increased blood glucose levels (hyperglycemia). Hyperglycemia associated with diabetes causes insulin resistance by increasing oxidative stress, formation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs), and flux through the hexosamine biosynthetic pathway. Increased plas...

As inflammation emerges as a risk factor for prostate cancer (PCa), there is potential for chemoprevention by anti-inflammatory agents. Dietary phytochemicals have been shown to have chemopreventive properties which may include anti-inflammatory activities. In this study, we demonstrate a role for mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase-5 (MKP5) in mediating anti-inflammatory activities of...

During the past 5 decades, it has been widely promulgated that the chemicals in plants that are good for health act as direct scavengers of free radicals. Here we review evidence that favors a different hypothesis for the health benefits of plant consumption, namely, that some phytochemicals exert disease-preventive and therapeutic actions by engaging one or more adaptive cellular response path...