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Introduction
Breast cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors among females. According to statistics in 2018, ~9.57 million individuals died of cancer worldwide, of which ~627,000 died from breast cancer (1). However, the current prevention and treatment methods need to be improved. Clinical, epidemiological and biological studies have indicated that exogenous estrogen is associated with the occurrence and development of breast cancer (2). Bisphenol A (BPA) is an exogenous estrogen, which is one of the most widely used industrial compounds in human daily life. BPA is similar to estrogen in structure and has stable chemical properties. It is widely used in plastic products, food containers, beverage bottles and dental fillings materials (3). When heated in mi-crowave ovens, plastic residues, such as bisphenol A may penetrate into the food (4). BPA is difficult to metabolise and excrete, thus interfering with the endocrine system of the human body (5). In previous years, a large number of experiments have confirmed that BPA can interfere with the normal functions of the human reproductive, nervous and immune systems and embryonic development. In addition, BPA promotes the occurrence and development of various tumors, such as breast and prostate cancer and children's reproductive system tumors (6,7). Liu et al (8) reported that bisphenol can regulate the expression of EMT-related protein markers by promoting the expression of Snail, thereby enhancing the migration ability of breast cancer MCF-7 cells.
Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is the fresh rhizome of ginger, a perennial herb of the Zingiberaceae family. Ginger is a traditional Chinese medicine that is used for both food and medicine (9). Previous studies have reported that ginger serves an antitumor role in various types of malignant tumors (10–17). For example, 6-gingerol, the main active component of ginger, can induce the apoptosis of gastric cancer cells via different mechanisms (11). (6)-gingerol can effectively inhibit colon tumor growth in nude mice (12) and (6)-paradol has antitumor-promoting properties (13). Ginger extract can inhibit growth and induce apoptosis in prostate cancer models in vivo and in vitro (14). Volatile ginger oil has strong cytotoxicity in cervical cancer cells (15) and treatment of gastroin-testinal tumors (16). Karki has demonstrated that ginger oil inhibits hallmarks [cyclin D1, cyclin dependent kinase (Cdk)-2, Cdk-4 and Bcl-2] of breast...