Dietary flavonoid fisetin for cancer prevention and treatment

Cancer remains a major public health concern and a significant cause of death worldwide. Identification of bioactive molecules that have the potential to inhibit carcinogenesis continues to garner interest among the scientific community. In particular, flavonoids from dietary sources are the most sought after because of their safety, cost‐effectiveness, and feasibility of oral administration. Emerging data have provided newer insights into understanding the molecular mechanisms that are essential to identify novel mechanism‐based strategies for cancer prevention and treatment. Dietary flavonoid fisetin (3,3′,4′,7‐tetrahydroxyflavone) found in many fruits and vegetables has been shown in preclinical studies to inhibit cancer growth through alteration of cell cycle, inducing apoptosis, angiogenesis, invasion, and metastasis without causing any toxicity to normal cells. Although data from in‐vitro and in‐vivo studies look convincing, well‐designed clinical trials in humans are needed to conclusively determine the efficacy across various cancers. This review highlights the chemopreventive and therapeutic effects, molecular targets, and mechanisms that contribute to the observed anticancer activity of fisetin against various cancers. Recently, strong preclinical evidence has emerged demonstrating the anticancer potential of dietary flavonoid fisetin across various cancers. Fisetin affects multiple molecular and signaling pathways during the progression of oncogenesis without causing any toxicity to normal cells. Fisetin shows tremendous promise to be developed as an anticancer agent and warrants properly modeled clinical trials either to be administered alone or in combination with available anticancer drugs.