Background: Cancer is, at present, among the leading causes of morbidity globally. Despite advances in treatment regimens for cancer, patients suffer from poor prognoses. In this context, the availability of vast natural resources seems to alleviate the shortcomings of cancer chemotherapy. The last decade has seen a breakthrough in the investigations related to the anticancer potential of dietary phytoconstituents. Interestingly, a handsome number of bioactive principles, ranging from phenolic acids, phenylpropanoids, flavonoids, stilbenes, and terpenoids to organosulphur compounds have been screened for their anticancer properties. Among the phenylpropanoids currently under clinical studies for anticancer activity, eugenol is a promising candidate. Eugenol is effective against cancers like breast, cervical, lung, prostate, melanomas, leukemias, osteosarcomas, gliomas, etc., as evident from preclinical investigations. Objective: The review aims to focus on cellular and molecular mechanisms of eugenol for cancer prevention and therapy. Methods: Based on predetermined criteria, various scholarly repositories, including PubMed, Scopus, and Science Direct were analyzed for anticancer activities of eugenol. Results: Different biochemical investigations reveal eugenol inducing cytotoxicity, inhibiting phases of the cell cycles, programmed cell death, and auto-phagocytosis in studied cancer lines; thus, portraying eugenol as a promising anticancer molecule. A survey of current literature has unveiled the molecular mechanisms intervened by eugenol in exercising its anticancer role. Conclusion: Based on the critical analysis of the literature, eugenol exhibits vivid signaling pathways to combat cancers of different origins. The reports also depict the advancement of novel nano-drug delivery approaches upgrading the therapeutic profile of eugenol. Therefore, eugenol nanoformulations may have enormous potential for both the treatment and prevention of cancer.

Dietary polyphenols are wide range of naturally occurring phytocompounds with huge therapeutic abilities. Scientific excavations have unveiled their anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antidiabetic, antiobesity, anticancer, antimicrobial, antiageing, cardioprotective and neuroprotective bioactivities. The polyphenols have been classified as flavonoids, phenolic acids, stilbenes, tannins and lignans based upon their chemical skeletal framework. The recent past and present time has been witnessing implementation of different computational approaches for repurposing these wonder phytochemicals for newer disease indications by passing conventional drug discovery pipeline. Curcumin, quercetin, resveratrol, rutin, kaemferol and catechins and their analogs have been extensively studied for repurposing against neurodegenerative disorders, different cancers, inflammatory conditions and very recently for the life-taking pandemic Covid-19. The in silico, in vitro and in vivo studies have yielded promising results proving the therapeutic credentials of these polyphenols.