A review of several anticancer chemicals derived from natural medicinal plant

Abstract

Humans have used natural plants and plant-derived medicines to cure various diseases for thousands of years. Of all the diseases that humans are facing, cancer is one of the most destructive ones. Scientists have studied anticancer chemicals from natural plants for decades, and some chemicals show significant effects against cancer and are applied widely in clinical use. Vinca alkaloids are a type of chemical derived from Catharanthus roseus. Members of the vinca alkaloids have been used in many chemotherapy regimens. Taxol is one of the most famous plant-derived medicines against cancer. Scientists have focused more than twenty years on improving its synthesis route. Solanine comes from plants in the genus Solanum. This kind of plant is used in TCM for cancer treatment. Apart from these land plants, marine plants and marine photosynthetic algae are also sources of antitumor agents. Carrageenan and Fucoidan are two examples of antitumor-active compounds derived from seagrass. They have both cytotoxicity and adjuvant ability. In the future, there will be more research on the improvement of the synthetic route of existing herbal compounds, the discovery of new herbal compounds, and the better utilization and combination of herbal compounds, and finally lead to better application of natural plant medicine against cancer.