Plant-Based Bioactive Compounds in Cancer Therapeutics

Abstract

AbstractCancer is a dreadful disease, and it is considered as one of the biggest health problems for the human populations and demands an intense strategy to cure. Cancer causes around 70% death in lower- and middle-income countries. Recent studies have reported that natural bioactive compounds (obtained from medicinal plants) in combination with anticancer drugs have great potential to destroy cancerous cells while not affecting normal cells. Natural bioactive compounds are considered suitable candidates for anticancer drug development with the great success opportunity due to their excellent properties for modulating multiple cellular and molecular targets of oncogenesis directly or indirectly and have shown great progress past several decades. The chief anticancerous properties include the inhibition of tumor cell growth, the induction of apoptosis, DNA damage, the inhibition of topoisomerases I and II, and others. Nowadays, many researchers are on the way to develop potential drugs that can inhibit or delay the growth of tumor cells without any type of side effects from natural bioactive compounds. The chief plant-based bioactive compounds with potential cancer therapeutic potential include curcumin, camptothecin, diosgenin, epigallocatechin-3-gallate, homoharringtonine, piperine, podophyllotoxin, resveratrol, vinca alkaloids, etc.This chapter provides a comprehensive report on the recent advancements and breakthrough accomplished in cancer treatments using natural bioactive compounds alone or in combination with other known therapies along with their possible mechanism of action on nuclear and cellular factors.KeywordsBioactive compoundsAnticancer therapeuticsApoptosisTopoisomerase inhibition