Background: Cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth and proliferation. It has become a major health problem in the past decades and is now the second leading cause of death globally. Although, there are different types of treatment such as chemotherapy, immune therapy, radiation, hormone therapy and targeted therapy used against cancer, they have possible side effects and significant deficiencies. Methods: This review aims to outline the benefits of medicinal plants and plant-derived products and highlight why they should be used as novel anti-cancer therapeutics. Electronic databases, including PubMed, Scopus, ScienceDirect, Cochrane library, and MedlinePlus were searched to summarize in vitro, in vivo and clinical studies on anticancer effects of medicinal plants and their bioactive compounds up-to-date. Results: In recent years, a number of medicinal plants have been administered to cancer patients in order to prevent and treat cancer as an alternative therapy. These plants were used because of their rich anticarcinogenic and chemoprotective potentials. In addition to these remarkable properties, these plants have less toxic anticancer, anti-tumor and anti-proliferation agents than traditional therapeutics. Nevertheless, only a small number of natural anti-tumor products including vinblastine, vincristine, podophyllotoxin, paclitaxel (Taxol) and camptothecin have been tested clinically, while vinflunine ditartrate, anhydrovinblastine, NK-611, tafluposide, paclitaxel poliglumex, combretastatins, salvicine, curcumin, indirubin, triptolide, homoharringtonine are still on trial. Conclusion: Consequently, more effective anticancer compounds are identified during the clinical trials; these natural products could be a key source of antitumor agents in modern anticancer therapy. It is expected that novel anticancer phytopharmaceuticals produced from medicinal plants could be effectively used in prevention and therapy for the cancers.

No abstract

In the current study, potential anticancer and antiproliferative activity of EOs from lavender (Lavandula angustifolia Mill.) were determined against A549, H1299, C6 cancer cells and nontumorous HUVEC cells through induction of both apoptosis and necrosis. Furthermore, the differentiations of the cancer prevention activities of the EOs distilled from first and second year's harvest of the lavender growing under traditional system and plastic mulch were investigated using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT), trypan blue, neutral red uptake assays as well as lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assay. The EOs exhibited remarkable anticancer and antiproliferative activity against all treated cancer cells, in a dose and time dependent manner. They exerted significantly decreases the cell growth in cancer cells, and also observed higher toxicity towards C6 glioma cells than the A549 and H1299 lung cells. In case of growing conditions of the EOs, higher anticancer and antiproliferative activity were observed under growing plastic mulch as compared to that of traditional system. Furthermore, first year's harvest of the lavender growing under plastic mulch seem to be possessed stronger cytotoxic effect than that of the second year's harvest. Besides, the lysosomal and LDH activity of the EOs were found to be highly in correlation with anticancer activity, and seem to be decreased obviously depending the year. It may be concluded that data obtained from the presented research demonstrates lavender EOs could have possible usage for cancer treatment as an alternative anticancer agent.

No abstract

Background and Purpose:In recent years, essential oils (EOs) have been reported to possess interesting anti-tumor, anti-mutagenic and anti-carcinogenic activities against various cancer cells. Therefore, we aimed to investigate potential biological activities of EOs from white poplar (Populus alba L., Salicaceae) and rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L., Lamiaceae). Material and Methods: EOs from P. alba L. and R. officinalis L. were extracted by hydrodistillation. MTT assay was carried out to determine the potential antiproliferative and cytotoxic properties of the essential oils as well as their corresponding IC 50 , and the inhibition (%) calculated. Antioxidant activity was determined using 2,2-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay, and lipid peroxidation capacity was evaluated using thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) method, and the values were calculated using the standards. Results: The EOs were evaluated for their in vitro cytotoxic, antioxidant and lipid oxidation activities. Regarding cytotoxic activity rosemary essential oil possessed strong inhibition (IC 50 = 3.06-7.38 µg/mL) of cell proliferation in comparison to that of P. alba L. (IC 50 = 10.53-28.16 µg/mL). Additionally, EO from R. officinalis L. was found to have higher antioxidant and lipid peroxidation capacities with IC 50 of 10.08 ± 0.15 and 1.76 ± 0.01, respectively. Conclusion: The results suggest that the EOs of both sources exhibited strong antiproliferative, cytotoxic and potent antioxidant properties and therefore they can have potential applications in the cancer treatment.