Molecular Landscape of Natural Compounds and Tailored Signaling Pathways in the Battle Against Breast Cancer

Breast cancer remains the most frequently occurring disease among women, making its global mitigation a daunting task. Current treatment modalities face numerous challenges, including multidrug resistance and distinct adverse side effects. This situation necessitates the development of novel therapeutics. Breast cancer is a complex disease with diverse architecture, involving numerous signaling pathways and mechanisms that interact with each other. About 70% of anticancer drugs are plant-derived. These phytochemicals target the signaling pathways involved in cell proliferation, apoptosis, autophagy, metastasis, and breast cancer stem cell development (PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway, Wnt/β-catenin signaling, Hedgehog (Hh), JAK-STAT pathway, NF-κB) by modulating them. These bioactive compounds and their structural derivatives have contributed to drug discovery and pharmacotherapy for breast cancer. Natural compounds, through synergistic effects, suppress breast cancer progression. Studies, in vitro and in vivo, have described the effectiveness of these isolated compounds against breast cancer. These extensive studies reveal the latent potential of these phytochemicals as a new strategy against breast carcinogenesis. To increase bioavailability and absorption, novel approaches have also been developed, such as the encapsulation of phytocompounds in lipid carriers, micelles, liposomes, and nanoparticles. Nevertheless, further comprehensive investigations are still required to determine the efficacy of these compounds. This review focuses on the important signaling cascades involved in breast cancer, which are potential targets of phytochemicals that ultimately impede cancer cell progression.