European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

AN APPRAISAL OF TRADITIONAL MEDICINAL PLANTS AS ANTICANCER AGENTS FROM HIMACHAL PRADESH, INDIA

Vikas Guleria*

ABSTRACT

An attempt has been made to review some medicinal plants used for the prevention and treatment of cancer in Himachal Pradesh. Information on the name of plants, family, parts used and method of preparation has been collected from Ethnomedicinal literatures. Many bioactive components in the plants are responsible for their anticancer activity. These active compounds are still a matter of thorough research. In today’s world, where cancer disease is so much prevalent, medicinal plants have become the need of the hour so as to bypass costly treatment and so many side effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Over the years, advancement in clinical research has been seen for use of these medicinal plants and a number of anticancer drugs have come out of these as a result. The main problem with these drugs is the toxicity and side effects associated with them due to their lack of specificity, as these drugs also kill healthy cells. The apt study of these medicinal plants would develop in introducing a site specific and safe anticancer drug with higher therapeutic values to eliminate cancer. In addition this review forms a good basis for selection of the plant for further phytochemical and pharmacological investigation. Though a good number of anticancer drugs have been developed from plants or their derived active compounds, development of a safe, economic and site-specific anticancer drug is still a challenge.

Keywords: Anticancer, Medicinal plants, phytochemicals, drug, phytochemicals.Anticancer, Medicinal plants, phytochemicals, drug, phytochemicals. Anticancer, Medicinal plants, phytochemicals, drug, phytochemicals.Anticancer, Medicinal plants, phytochemicals, drug, p