Pharmacological Review of Carica Papaya

Papaya (Carica papaya Linn.) is a fruit that belongs to the Caricaceae family and is well-known for its medicinal and nutritional benefits all over the world. The many components of the papaya plant have been utilized for medicinal purposes since ancient times. Herein, we aimed to review the medicinal and pharmacological activities of papaya and focused on the different properties of papaya as a multi-faceted plant. Papaya plants have been increasingly investigated and have shown great pharmacologic promise as a result of their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-malarial, and antimicrobial properties. It was also reported that transgenic and native papaya fruit (both ripe and unripe) have significant immune-modulatory properties. The extracts from the fruit, seeds, and leaves of the selected plant have also been shown to have significant cytotoxic activities against cancer cell lines including breast, liver, and cancer of hematopoietic cell lines. The papaya plant demonstrated potent medicinal activity to a certain extent and could be of nutraceutical importance for food industry application.