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Abstract Breast cancer is the most common cancer and the leading cause of death between females, it also affects men, but unfortunately, it is diagnosed at advanced disease stage. There are many types of breast cancer; ductal carcinoma insitu, lobular carcinoma insitu and invasive ductal carcinoma, but the last one is the most common type of breast cancer. Breast cancer occurrence is related to many causes as previous history of breast cancer, gender, genetic factors, hormonal factors, environmental factor, life style and dietary factor. Breast cancer produces no symptoms when the tumor is small and can be treated easily. Monthly breast self-exam (BSE) is a good way to be familiar with the breasts and helps in early detection. Nowadays, diagnosis of breast cancer can be done by many techniques as mammography, magnetic resonance imaging, molecular breast imaging, breast biopsy and blood based assay (tumor biomarkers). There are various treatment options available for breast cancer treatment. It can be cured either locally or systemically. Local treatment involves surgery and radiation therapy while systemic treatment includes chemotherapy and hormone replacement therapy. Chemotherapy is one of the most commonly used treatment options used for treatment. 5-FU is one of the chemotherapy which is still used until now. It is anti-metabolite which is existing as IV injection and topical dosage form.it is used for treatment slowly growing solid tumors like colorectal, breast, ovarian, pancreatic and gastric carcinoma.it is also used for treatment of superficial basal cell carcinoma when applied topically.5-FU is converted into several metabolites which inhibits thymidylate synthase(TS) and incorporated into DNA,RNA synthesis. Although 5-FU and other chemotherapy are still widely used for treatment of breast cancer, they have several side effects which make scientists look for another treatment method to overcome this problem. Herbal medicine becomes a promising therapy used to overcome the problems of chemotherapy. |