Plants in Anticancer Drug Discovery: From Molecular Mechanism to Chemoprevention

Abstract

Cancer is one of the primary causes of mortality globally, and the discovery of new anticancer drugs is the most important need in recent times. Natural products have been recognized as effective in fight against various diseases including cancer for over 50 years. Plants and microbes are the primary and potential sources of natural compounds to fight against cancer. Moreover, researches in the field of plant-based natural compounds have moved towards advanced and molecular level understandings from the last few decades, leading to the development of potent anticancer agents. Also, plants have been accepted as abundant and prosperous sources for the development of novel therapeutic agents for the management and prevention of different cancer types. The high toxicity of some cancer chemotherapy drugs, as well as their unfavorable side effects and drugs resistance, drives up the demand for natural compounds as new anticancer drugs. In this detailed evidence-based mechanistic review, facts and information about various medicinal plants, their bioactive compounds with their potent anticancer activities against different cancers have been gathered, with further approach to represent the molecular mechanism behind the anticancer activity of these plants. This review will be beneficial for investigators/scientists globally involved in the development of natural, safe, effective, and economical therapeutic agents/drugs against various cancers. This might be an important contribution in the field of drug discovery, where drugs can be used alone or in combination to increase the efficacy of newly synthesized drugs.

A Comparative Study of Diospyros malabarica (Gaub) Extracts in Various Polarity-Dependent Solvents for Evaluation of Phytoconstituents and Biological Activities

“…All tested extracts presented a bit anticancer activity but methanol bark extract of D. malabarica showed a potent anticancer effect (48%) while doxorubicin (70%) was used as a standard anticancer drug. Although resulted from anticancer activity in D. malabarica bark extract was quite less than standard but found not to be inactive even at very low concentration (100 μ g/mL) which could be the result of remarkable polyphenols including total flavonoids and tannins consisting of antioxidant properties that may act as anticancer agents as these phytochemicals were reported earlier as anticancer compounds [ 34 ] and may be the substitute of conventional chemotherapy or however reduce its side effects, our finding may be in agreement with earlier investigations which revealed an extensive optimistic connection between diverse secondary metabolites like flavonoids, phenolics, tannins, and saponins with antioxidant and anticancer potency. It is reported that a person's diet involving polyphenols being natural antioxidants can improve health and reduce the risk of cancers [ 54 ].…”

“…Minimal Essential Medium Eagle was utilized as the culture for HeLa cells, enhanced with 5% of fetal bovine serum (FBS), 100 IU/mL of penicillin, and 100 μ g/mL of streptomycin in flasks (75 cm 2 ) and kept in 5% carbon dioxide incubator at 37°C. Then, harvested exponentially developing cells were tallied with a hemocytometer and diluted with a specific [ 34 ] medium. The cell culture was prepared with a concentration of 6 × 10 4 cells/mL and brought into 96-well plates (100 μ L/well).…”

Delving the Role of Caralluma fimbriata: An Edible Wild Plant to Mitigate the Biomarkers of Metabolic Syndrome

“…They remain a source of effective bioactive compounds that can be utilized directly as medications. According to current estimates, the plant kingdom has about 250,000 species, from which approximately 10% of medicinal plants have been investigated or discovered for the treatment of various diseases [ 3 ]. Hence, there is a dire need to explore more hidden components in the plant kingdom.…”

“…The primary motivation was to select the underutilized medicinal plant, which is discussed in depth in this review, along with their mode of action and potential mechanism, and could potentially be utilized in the management and prevention of metabolic disorders. This review focuses on different varieties and their important bioactive compounds that have been presented to target MS to open up new avenues for various treatments/therapies [ 3 ]. Henceforth, this review has been designed to compile the latest available ten years of scientific studies on C. fimbriata to drive the attention of experts in food and nutrition departments towards its encouraged dietary utilization.…”

Buffalo Milk Whey Activates Necroptosis and Apoptosis in a Xenograft Model of Colorectal Cancer

“…The agri-food industry produces a large amount of waste and residues along the entire supply chain that still contain a considerable number of bioactive compounds such as polyphenols (phenolic acids, flavonoids, proanthocyanidins, anthocyanins), saponins, tannins, alkaloids, sterols, triterpenes, peptides, and carbohydrates [ 6 , 7 ]. In recent decades, several studies have widely shown that these compounds possess various biological activities, including antioxidant, antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, antimicrobial, antidiabetic, anticancer, antidiarrheal, antihypertensive, antimutagenic, and anti-inflammatory properties [ 8 , 9 ].…”