Anticancer attributes of desert plants

Abstract

The ever-increasing emergence of the resistance of mammalian tumor cells to chemotherapy and its severe side effects reduces the clinical efficacy of a large variety of anticancer agents that are currently in use. Thus, despite the significant progress in cancer therapeutics in the last decades, the need to discover and to develop new, alternative, or synergistic anticancer agents remains. Cancer prevention or chemotherapy based on bioactive fractions or pure components derived from desert plants with known cancer-inhibiting properties suggests promising alternatives to current cancer therapy. Plants growing on low nutrient soils and/or under harsh climatic conditions, such as extreme temperatures, intense solar radiation, and water scarcity, are particularly susceptible to attack from reactive oxygen species and have evolved efficient antioxidation defense systems. The many examples of desert plants displaying anticancer effects as presented here indicates that the same defensive secondary metabolites protecting them against the harsh environment may also play a protective or a curative role against cancer, as they also do against diabetes, neurodegenerative, and other acute and chronic diseases. The present review highlights a plethora of studies focused on the antineoplastic properties of desert plants and their prinicipal phytochemicals, such as saponins, flavonoids, tannins, and terpenes. Although many desert plants have been investigated for their antitumor properties, there are many that still remain to be explored - a challenge for the prospective cancer therapy of the future.

In vitro cytotoxicity screening of wild plant extracts from Saudi Arabia on human breast adenocarcinoma cells

“…The floral elements of unique arid plant biodiversity of Saudi Arabia are being practiced in folk medicine since ancient times (Rahman et al, 2004). Plants that grow under harsh desert stress conditions produced a high concentration of secondary metabolites that impart a wide range of pharmacological effects including anticancer activities (Harlev et al, 2012). As part of our efforts to study wild plants from desert regions for pharmacological activities, our study provides data on the cytotoxic potential from a total number of 14 extracts from wild flowering plants of Saudi Arabia.…”

Antitumor activities of extracts from selected desert plants against HepG2 human hepatocellular carcinoma cells

“…Emerging preclinical studies have provided convincing evidence that desert plant-derived extracts, fractions and isolated pure phytochemicals display potent anticancer activities against a wide spectrum of tumor model systems (reviewed by Harlev et al, 2012b). Although many desert plants have been investigated for their antitumor properties, a large number of them still remain to be explored for possible therapeutic applications in several oncologic diseases.…”

The Environmental Fluctuations of some Bioactive Nutraceutical Compounds in Zilla spinosa Inhabiting Arid Habitats

“…Saponins, like flavonoids, tannins and terpenes, are defensive secondary metabolites that allow plants to cope with the environmental conditions (storing and conserving water, resisting predators and surviving severe weather conditions (Harlev et al, 2012). Saponin is one of the most common compounds measured in Z. spinosa plants.…”