Anti-tumor Properties of Prunella vulgaris

Cancer is one of the most serious threats to public health around the world. Efforts in developing new therapies and prevention strategies are clearly insufficient in the face of a dramatically rising disease burden worldwide. New evaluation of alternate strategies, including those based on traditional medicine, is increasingly needed. These therapeutic or prevention approaches could prove complementary to current medical practice or could potentially aid in the development of new classes of pharmaceutical drugs with anti-cancer properties. Prunella vulgaris, a perennial herb, is a representative Chinese herb that has been put into practice to treat various types of diseases, including cancer. The triterpenoid, flavonoids, and phenylpropanoids in P. vulgaris have shown a collective therapeutic effect against cancer mediated through multiple pathways. This review discusses the chemical constituents of P. vulgaris, summarizes all of the known formulas that contain P. vulgaris, and also discusses in vitro, in vivo, and clinical studies on the anti-tumor properties of P. vulgaris. The aim is to bring better insights regarding P. vulgaris as an effective complementary method for treating cancer. Highlighted throughout this review is the necessity for additional prospective clinical trials on anti-tumor properties of P. vulgaris. © 2015, Springer International Publishing AG.