Autophagy therapeutic potential of garlic in human cancer therapy.
Cancer is one of the deadliest diseases against humans. To tackle this menace, humans have developed several high-technology therapies, such as chemotherapy, tomotherapy, targeted therapy, and antibody therapy. However, all these therapies have their own adverse side effects. Therefore, recent years have seen increased attention being given to the natural food for complementary therapy, which have less side effects. Garlic (Dà Suàn; Allium sativum), is one of most powerful food used in many of the civilizations for both culinary and medicinal purpose. In general, these foods induce cancer cell death by apoptosis, autophagy, or necrosis. Studies have discussed how natural food factors regulate cell survival or death by autophagy in cancer cells. From many literature reviews, garlic could not only induce apoptosis but also autophagy in cancer cells. Autophagy, which is called type-II programmed cell death, provides new strategy in cancer therapy. In conclusion, we wish that garlic could be the pioneer food of complementary therapy in clinical cancer treatment and increase the life quality of cancer patients.
Institute of Food Science and Technology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Yung-Lin
YL
Chu
Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Rajasekaran
R
Raghu
Institute of Food Science and Technology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Kuan-Hung
KH
Lu
Institute of Food Science and Technology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Chun-Ting
CT
Liu
Institute of Food Science and Technology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Shu-Hsi
SH
Lin
Institute of Food Science and Technology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Yi-Syuan
YS
Lai
Institute of Food Science and Technology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Wei-Cheng
WC
Cheng
Institute of Food Science and Technology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Shih-Hang
SH
Lin
Institute of Food Science and Technology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Lee-Yan
LY
Sheen
Autophagy; Cancer; Complementary therapy; Garlic