Plant Cell and Organ Culture as an Alternative for the Production of Anticancer Compounds

Abstract

Plants are the reservoirs of various valuable secondary metabolites like camptothecin, podophyllotoxin, and ginseng saponins which are used as anticancer agents. Plant cell and organ cultures are competent to synthesize and accumulate many of these compounds and can be used as a source for extraction of such compounds. Different strategies have been applied for overaccumulation of secondary metabolites in plant cell cultures which include screening and selection of high yielding cell lines, optimization of nutrient media, and elicitation. In the present chapter, some of the anticancer compounds derived from plant cell and organ cultures are described, and various strategies for improving the accumulation of useful secondary metabolites in cell and organ cultures and methods for the large-scale production using bioreactors are highlighted.