Anticancer activities of medicinal plants –An update

Aim: To assess the anticancer activities of certain medicinal plants such as Aloe barbadensis,Azardirachta Indica,Glycyrrhiza glabra, Curcuma longa, Hypericum perforatum, Acacianialotica -Vachellia nilotica, Acaciacatechu-Senegalia catechu, Camellia sinesis,Vitis venefera. Background: Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body.Not all tumours are cancerous, benign tumours do not spread to other parts of the body.Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal bleeding, prolonged cough, unexplained weight loss and a change in bowel movements.The causes for cancer include use of tobacco,alocohol, infections such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HPV.Cancer is often treated with some combination of radiation therapy, surgery, chemotherapy, and targeted therapy and some drugs made of the plants which have anticancereous properties which can counteract the symptoms as well as capable of acting against the cancerous cells. Reason: To explore the anticancer potential of the medicinal plants extracts for isolation and characterisation of the active anticancer principles so that better,safer and cost effective drugs can be developed for treating cancer.