A Green Therapeutic Approach – Medicinal Plants and Phytochemicals Against Cancer

Medicinal plants, serving as nature’s gift to humans to help them pursue better health, have been the basis for investigation effective drugs in cancer therapy through much of human history, and such traditional medicine is still widely practiced today. Nowadays, cancer drugs contain at least one major active compound currently or once derived from plants such as apigenin, berberine, campothecin derivative, capsaicin, chalcone, chrysin, colchicine, combretastatin, curcumin, cyanidin glycosides, denbinobin, ellipticine, epigallocatechin gallate, flavones/flavonoids, genipin, genistein, gingerol, ginsenosides, ginsenosides, isothiocyanates, kaempferol, lycopene, resveratrol, saffron (crocetin), silymarin, taxanes, ursolic acid, vinca alkaloids and etc. as anti-carcinogenic molecules, involving various strategies of treatment. In addition, the plant derived therapeutic molecules are also considered as safer, less toxic, and more effective substitutes than those of the synthetic ones for cancer patients. Up to ۵۰% the approved drugs during the last years are from either directly or indirectly from natural sources and in the area of cancer, over the time frame from around the ۱۹۴۰s to date, of the ۱۷۵ small molecules ۸۵ actually being either natural product. A numerous clinical trial on revealing molecular mechanisms of natural products and plant-based drugs isalso still ongoing. A considerable number of plant-derived natural products and their secondary metabolites have been analyzed by our research group in order to reveal their anticancer potentials. The most recent literature on plant-based anticancer drugs and their limitations have been discussed by considering their mechanisms of action.

کلیدواژه ها:

Cancer ، medicinal plants ، natural products ، plant-based drugs ، healthy foods