Chemoprevention is the use of natural, dietary, or pharmacologic agents to prevent the initiation, delay the development, or reverse the progression of cancer before invasive disease arises. The concept rests on carcinogenesis being a multistep process, allowing intervention at the stages of initiation, promotion, a…
Chemoprevention is the use of natural, dietary, or pharmacologic agents to prevent the initiation, delay the development, or reverse the progression of cancer before invasive disease arises. The concept rests on carcinogenesis being a multistep process, allowing intervention at the stages of initiation, promotion, and progression with agents that block carcinogen activation, neutralize reactive species, suppress inflammation, modulate cell proliferation and apoptosis, or influence epigenetic and signaling pathways. Chemopreventive strategies are often categorized as primary, secondary, or tertiary according to whether they target healthy at-risk individuals, those with premalignant lesions, or patients seeking to prevent recurrence or second cancers. Agents under study span pharmaceuticals and a broad range of dietary and plant-derived compounds; for example, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs have been investigated for colorectal cancer prevention, and various botanical extracts and nutritional and probiotic factors have been examined in models of chemically induced tumorigenesis for anti-inflammatory and protective activity. Because chemoprevention is applied largely to people who are not yet ill, its evaluation places particular emphasis on efficacy balanced against long-term safety, dosing, and the identification of populations most likely to benefit. The field intersects oncology, hematology, nutrition, and pharmacology and addresses biomarkers of risk and response, mechanisms of protection, and the translation of laboratory findings into preventive practice aimed at reducing cancer incidence and burden.
5 peer-reviewed articles, ranked by relevance. Each links to its DOI.
The 5 articles above have been cited 15 times in the scholarly literature. Citation data via OpenAlex and Crossref, updated Jun 2026.
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