ABSTRACT
Cancer research over the last 100 years has led to breakthrough molecular therapies including genotyping of tumors, targeted molecular drugs, and cancer immunotherapy. With each advance, cancer treatment has become less toxic, and more effective even for metastatic disease. Precision oncology and precision nutrition will open new frontiers in cancer prevention, cancer treatment, and the prevention of relapse. The central role of angiogenesis in the multistep process of carcinogenesis was recognized 50 years ago through the pioneering work of the late Dr. Judah Folkman. Angiogenesis is both part of the inflammatory response and is used by the body to grow new blood vessels in areas of reduced oxygen tension. While there are many physiological settings, such as wound healing, corpus luteum development, and placental growth where angiogenesis is crucial to normal physiology, pathological angiogenesis is a hallmark of a number of diseases including cancer, proliferative diabetic retinopathy, psoriasis, arthritis, and Alzheimer’s disease. Therapies that inhibit angiogenesis seek to starve tumor cells by cutting off their blood supply. A number of foods and food extracts or isolated phytonutrients have been found to inhibit angiogenesis including from soy, licorice, cinnamon, garlic, and many other plant-based and marine-sourced foods. This chapter describes the potential of novel nutritional strategies to target tumor angiogenesis in order to enhance effort to prevent cancer, improve cancer treatment, and prevent relapses.
