A critical review on anti-angiogenic property of phytochemicals.

Angiogenesis, a process involved in neovascularization, has been found to be associated with
several metabolic diseases like cancer, retinopathy etc. Thus, currently, the focus on anti-angiogenic
therapy for treatment and prevention of diseases has gained significant attention. Currently available
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved drugs are targeting either vascular endothelial
growth factor or it’s receptor, but in the long term, these approaches were shown to cause several
side effects and the chances of developing resistance to these drugs is also high. Therefore,
identification of safe and cost-effective anti-angiogenic molecules is highly imperative. Over the
past decades, dietary based natural compounds have been studied for their anti-angiogenic potential
which provided avenues in improving the angiogenesis based therapy. In this review, major
emphasis is given to the molecular mechanism behind anti-angiogenic effect of natural compounds
from dietary sources.