Natural sources as potential anti-cancer agents: A review

Abstract

Natural products remain an important source of new drugs, new drug leads and new chemical entities. The plant based drug discovery resulted mainly in the development of anticancer agents including plants (vincristine, vinblastine, etoposide, paclitaxel, camptothecin, topotecan and irinotecan), marine organisms (citarabine, aplidine and dolastatin 10) and micro-organisms (dactinomycin, bleomycin and doxorubicin). Beside this there is numerous agents identified from fruits and vegetables can used in anticancer therapy. The agents include curcumin (turmeric), resveratrol (red grapes, peanuts and berries), genistein (soybean), diallyl sulfide (allium), S-allyl cysteine (allium), allicin (garlic), lycopene (tomato), capsaicin (red chilli), diosgenin (fenugreek), 6-gingerol (ginger), ellagic acid (pomegranate), ursolic acid (apple, pears, prunes), silymarin (milk thistle), anethol (anise, camphor, and fennel), catechins (green tea), eugenol (cloves), indole-3-carbinol (cruciferous vegetables), limonene (citrus fruits), beta carotene (carrots), and dietary fiber. In this review active principle derived from natural products are offering a great opportunity to evaluate not only totally new chemical classes of anticancer agents, but also novel lead compound and potentially relevant mechanisms of action. Keywords: Cancer, vincristin, vinblastin, fruit, vegetables

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