Anticancer activity of Nigerian medicinal plants: a review

Abstract

Background Cancer is currently the leading cause of death globally and the number of deaths from cancer is on the rise daily. Medicinal plants have been in continuous use over the years for the management of cancer, particularly, in most developing countries of the world including Nigeria. The use of synthetic drugs for the treatment of cancer is often accompanied by toxic side effects. Thus, the alternative use of readily available and inexpensive medicinal plants is the panacea to the toxic side effects associated with synthetic drugs. Main body The present review summarized the anticancer activity of 51 medicinal plants that are widespread in all regions of Nigeria. Furthermore, the proposed anticancer pharmacological actions as well as the anticancer bioactive compounds, the type of cancer cell inhibited, the plant parts responsible for the anticancer activity, and the nature of the extracts used for the studies were discussed in this review. The 51 Nigerian medicinal plants were reported to exhibit anticancer activities of the prostate, cervices, lung, skin, colon, esophagus, blood, ovary, central nervous system/brain, breast, stomach, pancreas, larynx, and kidney. The major classes of bioactive compounds indicated to be responsible for the anticancer activity include the polyphenols, flavonoids, alkaloids, saponins, triterpenes, tannins, and quinones. The major anticancer pharmacological actions of these bioactive compounds were antiproliferative, cytotoxic, cytostatic, antimetastatic, apoptotic, and antioxidative as well as provoked cell cycle arrest, inhibition of angiogenesis and reduction of cancer cell viability. Conclusion The Nigerian medicinal plants can be harnessed to provide for readily available and inexpensive anticancer drugs in the future because the plants reported in this review showed promising anticancer activity.

In Vitro Cell Death Mechanisms Induced by Dicoma anomala Root Extract in Combination with ZnPcS4 Mediated-Photodynamic Therapy in A549 Lung Cancer Cells

“…Recently, numerous studies have reported the cancer therapeutic benefits of herbal medicine [ 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 ]. In the present study, a dose-dependent decrease in cell viability, proliferation, and increase in cytotoxicity in D.A root extracts (Chl, EtOAc, and MeOH), and ZnPcS 4 -mediated PDT was observed in monotherapy ( Figure 4 and Figure 5 ) as well as in combination therapy ( D.A MeOH root extract IC 50 and ZnPcS 4 -mediated PDT IC 50 ) ( Figure 6 B–D) in vitro.…”

A review on the traditional uses, phytochemistry, and pharmacological activities of clove basil (Ocimum gratissimum L.)

“…Anticancer activities from plant bioactive components have been documented ( Sun et al., 2002 ; Surh, 2003 ; Ohiagu et al., 2021 ). Lin et al.…”

Anti Proliferative and Apoptotic Effect of Soluble Ethyl Acetate Partition from Ethanol Extract of Chromolaena Odorata Linn Leaves Against Hela Cervical Cancer Cell line

“…odorata has been extensively studied in the last decade. N-hexane fraction of this plant has antiproliferative activity against MCF-7, MDAMB-468, and CAL51 breast cell lines, while ethanol extract of its leaves can suppress the growth of Lewis lung carcinoma cell (LLC) and HL-60 human leukemia cell lines (Ohiagu et al, 2021). The essential oil of this plant (pentacyclic triterpenoid) could decrease the viability of HepG2 cells by 90% after incubation with IC 50 value of 206 µg/ml (Prabhu and Ravi, 2012).…”