HERBAL-DERIVED ANTICANCER PHYTOCONSTITUENTS: TRADITION TO MOLECULAR MECHANISMS

This article reveals a detailed review of important constitutes of herbal drugs which will be useful to treat various types of cancer. Cancer is the second leading cause of death in both developed and developing countries as the number of mortalities is increasing day-by-day and year after year. Herbal drugs have contributed for the discovery of new anticancer drugs due to conventional cancer therapies cause's serious side effects. Therefore, the fear of side effects patient prefer to use of herbal drugs or compound isolated from the medicinal plants for cancer treatment. An ideal phytochemical is one that possesses anti-tumor properties with minimal toxicity, side effects and has a defined mechanism of action. Several anticancer agents including taxol, vinblastine, vincristine, the camptothecin derivatives, topotecan, irinotecan, and etoposide derived from epipodophyllotoxin are in clinical use all over the world. A number of promising agents such as flavopiridol, roscovitine, combretastatin A-4, betulinic acid, silvestrol, apigenin, curcumin, fisetin, and crocetin are in preclinical or clinical development stage.