Putative Pathways of Cancer Pathophysiology, Proliferation, and Anticancer Activity of Chitosan

Cancer refers to the abnormal growth of cells with the invasive character, mainly developed due to failure in immune defence mechanism. The embryonic development, tumour growth and metastasis of cancer are governed by angiogenesis, that proceeds under a suitable condition of the triggering of angiogenic switch with a net balance between the pro-angiogenic and anti-angiogenic factors. The current study shows that the anticancer activity of chitosan is associated with the cellular pathways of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) dysfunction and apoptosis, inhibition of the enzyme ribonucleotide reductase (RR), induction of detoxification enzymes, immunopotentiation, anti-metastasis via the interference in cellular invasion and motility, and the natural antioxidant profile increment via the scavenging of cancer-causing free radicals. The study of the cellular pathways of anticancer activity of chitosan is crucial towards the synthetic customization and tailoring of chitosan biomaterial as a potent anticancer drug candidate. The objectives of the study lie on finding the putative cellular routes of cancer pathophysiology and proliferation, and the mechanistic approaches of anticancer activity of chitosan that are expected to be important in the field of research, specifically on chitosan based anticancer drug formulations development strategy.