Melisa Anderson Cross

By Dwayne Tucker, Melisa Anderson, Fabian Miller, Kurt Vaz, Lennox Anderson-Jackson and Donovan McGrowder

Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer and the fifth leading cause of cancer death. The incidence of prostate cancer is rising due to increased screening and awareness, and there is epidemiological evidence suggesting an interaction among biological and environmental risk factors in the development and progression of prostate cancer. Vegetables and fruits provide a wide range of antioxidants and phytochemicals that have been demonstrated to have a negative, positive, or no association with prostate cancer risk. Therefore, it is evident that the effect of dietary antioxidants on risk of prostate cancer remains undecided and inconclusive. The main focus of this review was to examine recent and past literature of the chemoprotective properties of five major groups of phytochemicals against prostate cancer development including both in vivo and in vitro findings.

Part of the book: Antioxidants

By Donovan McGrowder, Fabian Miller, Chukwuemeka Nwokocha, Cameil Wilson-Clarke, Melisa Anderson, Lennox Anderson-Jackson and Lowen Williams

Breast cancer remains one of the most frequent cancers affecting women globally. The incidence of breast cancer is rising due to improved screening and awareness, and there is epidemiological data signifying an interaction among environmental and biological risk factors in the development and progress of breast cancer. There is substantial experimental data of the protective effect of micronutrient antioxidants for breast cancer via alteration of many signaling pathways and molecular events including inducing apoptosis, and inhibition of breast cancer cell proliferation and invasion. The main focus of this review is to examine past and current epidemiological evidence that suggests that nutritional micronutrients with antioxidant properties in dietary or supplemental form may be beneficial in protecting women against breast cancer and affect outcomes.

Part of the book: Antioxidants

By Donovan McGrowder, Lennox Anderson-Jackson, Lowell Dilworth, Shada Mohansingh, Melisa Anderson Cross, Sophia Bryan, Fabian Miller, Cameil Wilson-Clarke, Chukwuemeka Nwokocha, Ruby Alexander-Lindo and Shelly McFarlane

Worldwide, prostate cancer (PCa) is the leading cause of morbidity and cancer-related mortality in men. The pathogenesis of PCa is complex and involves abnormal genetic changes, abrogation of cell growth with heterogeneous progression and predictive subgroups. In the last two decades there have been the exploration and development of molecular and genetic biomarkers for PCa due to limitations of traditional serum biomarkers such as prostate specific antigen (PSA) in screening and diagnosis. These biomarkers could possibly differentiate between PCa and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) patients, and healthy controls as well as assist with prognosis, risk stratification and clinical decision-making. Such molecular biomarkers include serum (PHI and 4K score), urine (PCA3 and SelectMDx), and tumor tissue (Oncoytype DX, Decipher and Prolarix). microRNAs (miRNAs) deregulation where there is increased or decreased expression levels, constitute prospective non-invasive molecular biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of PCa. There are also other emerging molecular biomarkers such as exosomal miRNAs and proteins that are in various stages of development and clinical research. This review is intended to provide a wide-ranging appraisal of the literature on current and emerging PCa biomarkers with robust evidence to afford their application in clinical research and by extension routine clinical practice.

Part of the book: Cancer Bioinformatics