Plant For Treatment Of Cancer Research Articles

Drug interaction of chemotherapy drugs and medicinal plants

Introduction: The treatment of cancer is considered to be one of the most challenging problems in medicine. Amongst the most used treatments is the usage of herbal medicines, which helps both in prevention and cure of the disease. Although, the use of medicinal plants for treatment of cancer is harmless or even beneficial to patients but presents potential risk when combined with prescribed drugs. Drug interaction during cancer treatments therefore, is an issue that affects the Brazilian population.Methods: To analyze the drug interactions between chemotherapeutic agents and medicinal plants, a systematic literature review was performed with articles published in English and Portuguese between 2012 and 2019 from the databases such as PubMed and ScienceDirect. Search was carried out with the help of the Boolean Operator (AND) using following keywords: medicinal plants, drug interaction, chemotherapy, and herbal medicine. We found 149 articles in PubMed and 625 articles in ScienceDirect. The selection of articles for this study was done first by excluding repeated articles, then selecting articles by title, then by summary, and the last step was to read the full articles. Finally, twelve articles contributed to the research.Results and Discussion: A systematic research revealed that 5 medicinal plants, such as St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum), Ginger (Zingiber officinale), Black cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa), Celandine (Chelidonium majus) and Mango (Mangifera indica) containing metabolites such as polyphenols, alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins and others interacted with chemotherapeutic agents, such as irinotecan, tamoxifen, docetaxel and paclitaxel. In addition, many medicinal plants are used indiscriminately, without proper medical and pharmaceutical guidance in cancer treatment, to minimize side effects, such as nausea, headache and low immunity, that can cause harm to the patient.

North African Medicinal Plants Traditionally Used in Cancer Therapy.

Background: Cancer is a major cause of mortality worldwide with increasing numbers by the years. In North Africa, the number of cancer patients is alarming. Also shocking is that a huge number of cancer patients only have access to traditional medicines due to several factors, e.g., economic difficulties. In fact, medicinal plants are widely used for the treatment of several pathologies, including cancer. Truthfully, herbalists and botanists in North African countries prescribe several plants for cancer treatment. Despite the popularity and the potential of medicinal plants for the treatment of cancer, scientific evidence on their anticancer effects are still scarce for most of the described plants.Objective: Bearing in mind the lack of comprehensive and systematic studies, the aim of this review is to give an overview of studies, namely ethnobotanical surveys and experimental evidence of anticancer effects regarding medicinal plants used in North Africa for cancer therapy.Method: The research was conducted on several popular search engines including PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus and Web of Science. The research focused primarily on English written papers published between the years 2000 and 2016.Results: This review on plants traditionally used by herbalists in North Africa highlights that Morocco and Algeria are the countries with most surveys on the use of medicinal plants in folk medicine. Among the plethora of plants used, Nigella sativa and Trigonella foenum-graecum are the most referred ones by herbalists for the treatment of cancer. Moreover, a plethora of scientific evidence qualifies them as candidates for further drug development. Furthermore, we report on the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms.Conclusion: Overall, this review highlights the therapeutic potential of some medicinal plants as anticancer agents. The North African flora offers a rich source of medicinal plants for a wide array of diseases, including cancer. The elucidation of their modes of action represents an indispensable condition for the rational development of new drugs for cancer treatment. Furthermore, testing the anticancer activity in vivo and in clinical trials are warranted to explore the full therapeutic potential of North African plants for cancer therapy.

Ethnopharmacological survey of herbal remedies used for treatment of various types of cancer and their methods of preparations in the West Bank-Palestine

BackgroundPlants have been the primary source of medicines since life on earth; more than 50 % of existing cancer treatments are derived from plants.MethodsAn ethnopharmacological survey of herbal remedies used in cancer treatment was carried out in the West Bank/ Palestine. A questionnaire was distributed to one hundred and fifty herbalists, traditional healers and rural dwellers. Collected information included the names of plants, the used parts, types of cancers for which these plants were used and also their methods of preparation. To identify the most important species used, Factor of informant’s consensus (Fic), Fidelity level (Fl) and the Use-value (UV) were calculated.ResultsCollected data has shown that 72 plants are utilized for treatment of cancer, belonging to 44 families; from them Compositae and Lamiaceae were the most common. Leaves and fruits were the most commonly used parts, while decoctions, infusions and syrups were the main methods of preparation. Lung cancer was the most common type of cancer treated with these plants and Ephedra alata was the most commonly used plant for treatment of cancer in Palestine. The Fic was high for all the plants; Fl was 100 % for many plants, the highest UV (0.72) was for Ephedra alata.ConclusionsThis study showed that many herbal remedies are still used by herbalists in Palestine for treatment of cancer; some of them have been approved scientifically while others are not. A combined effort between informants and scientific institutions working in this field can help in the discovery of new anticancer agents. Moreover, scientists must explore the most suitable method of extraction, formulation and dose determination in order to achieve the best benefits from these herbals.

Medicinal Plants for Treatment of Cancer: A Brief Review

Medicinal Plants for Treatment of Cancer: A Brief Review

Cytotoxic and antioxidant activities of Thai medicinal plants for cancer treatment

Cytotoxic and antioxidant activities of Thai medicinal plants for cancer treatment