MEDICINAL PLANTS WITH POTENTIAL ANTICANCER ACTIVITIES: A REVIEW

Abstract

Plants have been the beacon of therapeutic sources for curing diseases from times immemorial. Medicinal plants with their isolated lead molecules are also used as an alternative medicine for treating neoplastic cells. Neoplastic cells are the anomalous proliferation of cells in the body which cause cancer. Diverse efficient compounds derived from natural products have been isolated as anticancer agents. These chemical compounds are formulated with a view to create effective drugs against cancer. Some of the lead molecules isolated from different medicinal plants are already in use to treat cancer and chemotherapeutic side effects. These potential and successful anticancer molecules include Vincristine, Vinblastin, Taxol, Camptothecin and Podophyllotoxin. This paper deals with the selective medicinal plants having anticancer properties which could be further designed to produce cancer curing drugs.