Potential Clinical Applications of Natural Products of Medicinal Plants as Anticancer Drugs ? A Review

Cancer is a complex disease which is associated with cell signaling, DNA damage and cell cycle. Cancer is a multifactorial in origin .Cancer causes for 12.5% of deaths worldwide. Cancer treatment methods in cancer therapy like radiation and chemotherapy and using synthetic drugs leading to side effects. Therefore, there is a lot of demand to identify and develop effective novel therapeutic agents to treat many diseases. Plants are richest and unique source of energy, oxygen, metabolites and therapeutic agents. Many compounds of plant derivatives are very active against many dreadful diseases including cancer. Humans benefit from using many of the plants as medicinal purposes to combat diseases and microbes. Since plants are the natural, safe and best source in providing these active components especially anticancer drugs. Hence it is very essential to study about natural products and their potential role in therapeutic use. This review paper focuses mainly on achievements in cancer therapy using plant products and the potential clinical applications of medicinal plants and the role of their products, especially as anticancer drugs.