Unifying Mechanism for Plant Nutrients as Anticancer Agents: Electron Transfer, Reactive Oxygen Species and Oxidative Stress

Plants remain an important source of new drugs, new drug leads for making more effective drugs in
the pharmaceutical industry. Plant based discovery resulted mainly in the development of anticancer
and anti-infective agents providing new leads to the drug industry.
The present article focuses on a unifying mode of action for the nutrients, namely, resveratrol,
epigallocatechin, polyene-ß-carotene, polyene lycopene, piperine, curcumin, genistein, luteolin,
sulforaphane and pomegranate extract. The mechanism is based on electron transfer, reactive
oxygen species and oxidative stress, which comprises an extension of earlier reports involving
agents. Most of the compounds are precursors of electron transfer quinones, whereas others fit into
the polyene category. The nutrients are better known as antioxidants. The dichotomy is addressed.