Fighting Cancer by Phytochemicals

Abstract

Nature is considered as an enormous contributor in
anticancer drugs. Although more than half century had
passed on its discovery, taxol is still, till now, a unique
anticancer agent. Other compounds as vincristine,
vinblastine, camptothecins, etoposide and others are
plant derived and effective against cancer.A fact that out
of 121 drugs prescribed for cancer treatment till date, 90
are derived from plant sources [1].
 In view of the recent advances made in the discovery of
anticancer agents, the present article represents some of
them:
 Eucalrobusone C, a new bioactive compound
(Eucalyptus robusta leaves) exerted strong antiproliferative activity against colon (HCC) cancerous cells.
It induced apoptosis through the caspase-dependent
mitochondrial apoptotic pathway which associated with
decreased Bcl-2 expression and increased Bax expression,
resulting in a loss of mitochondrial membrane potential
and the cell cycle was arrested at S phase. These results
indicate that Eucalrobusone C possesses great potential as
a promising candidate for the treatment of HCC.