Current Drug Targets - Volume 13, Issue 14, 2012

Androgen is a key for the activation of Androgen Receptor (AR) in most of the disease conditions, however androgen-independent activation of AR is also found in aggressive type human malignancies. An intense search for the inhibitors of AR is underway to cure AR-dependent diseases. In addition to targeting various components of AR signaling pathway, compounds which directly target AR are under preclinical and clinical investigation. Various In vitro and preclinical animal studies suggest that different natural compounds have potential to act against AR. Some natural compounds have been found to be pharmacologically effective against AR irrespective of varying routs of administration viz; oral, intra-peritoneal and intravenous. This mini-review summarizes the studies conducted with different natural agents in determining their pharmacological utility against AR signaling.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in the United States, with African-American (AA) women showing significantly higher rates than Caucasian-American (CA) women do. The reason for this racial disparity remains unknown, and factors that might be responsible for the differences in incidence and mortality have not been identified. One possible factor could be microRNAs (miRs), which are small noncoding regulatory RNAs involved intimately in cancer, and the expression of certain miRs may be decreased or increased in the breast tumors of AA and CA women. Therefore, modulation of miRs using natural agents could lead to the development of a novel therapeutic strategy to treat aggressive forms of breast cancer in women of different racial backgrounds. The function of natural agents in the regulation of miRs has not been investigated extensively. In this review, we will discuss the potential role of naturally occurring agents as potent antitumor agents thought to function by targeting miRs as contributing factors to the disparity in breast cancer between AA and CA women.