MEDICINAL PLANTS FROM THE HIMALAYAS: INSIGHTS INTO THEIR ANTICANCER EFFECTS

Authors

  • RITU RANI School of Medical and Allied Sciences, Galgotias University, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India
  • ABHAY GAHIRWAR School of Medical and Allied Sciences, Galgotias University, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India
  • SANDEEP YADAV School of Medical and Allied Sciences, Galgotias University, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22159/ijpps.2025v17i2.52819

Keywords:

Herbal drugs, Anticancer activity, Cancer cell lines

Abstract

Management of cancer is a challenge to the modern system of medical practice despite of having an effective chemotherapy, radiotherapy, nuclear therapy and Surgery. While effective, these treatments have limited acceptance due to safety concerns. Herbal medicines, known for their minimal adverse effects, have shown promise in disease management and can provide high-quality nutritional and raw ingredients. Herbal therapies are also considered potential complementary treatments alongside conventional methods. The study was conducted by systematically reviewing the literature of various databases such as PubMed, Google scholar, Science direct and Wiley. In this study 4036 articles were reported from these tools and only 92 articles included after the exclusion due to duplication, irrelevant, non-full-text article, qualitative and quantitative analysis. Many herbal medicines described in this article contain numerous of these antioxidants. Recent researches showed the anti-oxidative and superoxide scavenging activities of individual active components of herbal medicine for their inhibitory activities on lipid peroxidation and anti-cancer properties. Individual herbal medicines show antipyretic, analgesic and anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer effects. Numerous in vitro studies of herbal medicine on different cell lines and in vivo study of herbal medicine have been reported. However, the mechanisms of actions remain unclear. This review aims to give an overview on the recent development of herbal medicine in the prevention and treatment of cancer. The report covers the possible mechanism of action of some of the herbal medicine. In addition, the common properties of herbal medicine are described. Finally, the study sheds lights on the pharmacological applications of herbal medicine in the treatment of cancer and its potential use as anti-cancer agents.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Yang G, LI X, LI X, Wang L, LI J, Song X. Traditional Chinese medicine in cancer care: a review of case series published in the Chinese literature. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2012;2012(1):751046. doi: 10.1155/2012/751046, PMID 22778776.

Diwanay S, Chitre D, Patwardhan B. Immunoprotection by botanical drugs in cancer chemotherapy. J Ethnopharmacol. 2004 Jan 1;90(1):49-55. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2003.09.023, PMID 14698508.

Pal SK, Shukla Y. Herbal medicine: current status and the future. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2003 Aug 20;4(4):281-8. PMID 14728584.

Smith Hall C, Larsen HO, Pouliot M. People plants and health: a conceptual framework for assessing changes in medicinal plant consumption. J Ethnobiol Ethnomed. 2012;8:43. doi: 10.1186/1746-4269-8-43, PMID 23148504.

Tavakoli J, Miar S, Majid Zadehzare MM, Akbari H. Evaluation of effectiveness of herbal medication in cancer care: a review study. Iran J Cancer Prev. 2012;5(3):144-56. PMID 25628834.

Chen X, HU ZP, Yang XX, Huang M, Gao Y, Tang W. Monitoring of immune responses to a herbal immune modulator in patients with advanced colorectal cancer. Int Immunopharmacol. 2006;6(3):499-508. doi: 10.1016/j.intimp.2005.08.026, PMID 16428086.

Jing Y, Nakajo S, Xia L, Nakaya K, Fang Q, Waxman S. Boswellic acid acetate induces differentiation and apoptosis in leukemia cell lines. Leuk Res. 1999;23(1):43-50. doi: 10.1016/s0145-2126(98)00096-4, PMID 9933134.

Baum M, Ernst E, Lejeune S, Horneber M. Role of complementary and alternative medicine in the care of patients with breast cancer: report of the European society of mastology (EUSOMA). European Journal of Cancer. 2006;42(12):1702-10.

Lian Z, Niwa K, Gao J, Tagami K, Mori H, Tamaya T. Association of cellular apoptosis with anti-tumor effects of the Chinese herbal complex in endocrine-resistant cancer cell line. Cancer Detect Prev. 2003;27(2):147-54. doi: 10.1016/s0361-090x(03)00026-6, PMID 12670527.

Mahady G. Global harmonisation of herbal health claims. J Nutr. 2001;131(S3):162-96. doi: 10.1093/jn/131.3.1120S.

Fong HH. Integration of herbal medicine into modern medical practices: issues and prospects. Integr Cancer Ther. 2002;1(3):287-93. doi: 10.1177/153473540200100313, PMID 14667286.

Rees RW, Feigel I, Vickers A, Zollman C, MC Gurk R, Smith C. Prevalence of complementary therapy use by women with breast cancer. a population based survey. Eur J Cancer. 2000;36(11):1359-64. doi: 10.1016/s0959-8049(00)00099-x, PMID 10899648.

Gray RE, Fitch M, Goel V, Franssen E, Labrecque M. Utilization of complementary/alternative services by women with breast cancer. J Health Soc Policy. 2003;16(4):75-84. doi: 10.1300/J045v16n04_04, PMID 12943333.

Safarzadeh E, Sandoghchian Shotorbani SS, Baradaran B. Herbal medicine as inducers of apoptosis in cancer treatment. Adv Pharm Bull. 2014 Oct;4 Suppl 1:421-7. doi: 10.5681/apb.2014.062, PMID 25364657.

Wachtel Galor S, Tomlinson B, Benzie IF. Ganoderma lucidum (Lingzhi) a Chinese medicinal mushroom: biomarker responses in a controlled human supplementation study. Br J Nutr. 2004;91(2):263-9. doi: 10.1079/BJN20041039, PMID 14756912.

Taixiang W, Wei X, Yang X, Zhiyu C. Medicinal herbs for esophageal cancer. Cochrane Database System Review. 2007;24(1):CD004520.

Berrington D, Lall N. Anticancer activity of certain herbs and spices on the cervical epithelial carcinoma (HeLa) cell line. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2012 Jan 1;2012:564927. doi: 10.1155/2012/564927, PMID 22649474.

James MA, FU H, Liu Y, Chen DR, You M. Dietary administration of berberine or Phellodendron amurense extract inhibits cell cycle progression and lung tumorigenesis. Mol Carcinog. 2011 Jan;50(1):1-7. doi: 10.1002/mc.20690, PMID 21061266.

Shobha CR, Vishwanath P, Suma MN, Prashant A, Rangaswamy C, Gowdappa BH. In vitro anti-cancer activity of ethanolic extract of Momordica charantia on cervical and breast cancer cell lines. Int J Health Allied Sci. 2015 Oct 1;4(4):210. doi: 10.4103/2278-344X.167649.

Amruthraj NJ, Raj P, Saravanan S, Lebel LA. In vitro studies on anticancer activity of capsaicinoids from capsicum chinense against human hepatocellular carcinoma cells. Int J Pharm Pharm Sci. 2014;6(4):254-558.

Lee J, Gupta S, Huang JS, Jayathilaka LP, Lee BS. HPLC–MTT assay: anticancer activity of aqueous garlic extract is from allicin. Anal Biochem. 2013 May 15;436(2):187-9. doi: 10.1016/j.ab.2013.01.033, PMID 23416182.

Limonta P, Moretti RM, Marzagalli M, Fontana F, Raimondi M, Montagnani Marelli M. Role of endoplasmic reticulum stress in the anticancer activity of natural compounds. Int J Mol Sci. 2019 Jan;20(4):961. doi: 10.3390/ijms20040961, PMID 30813301.

Karna P, Chagani S, Gundala SR, Rida PC, Asif G, Sharma V. Benefits of whole ginger extract in prostate cancer. Br J Nutr. 2012 Feb;107(4):473-84. doi: 10.1017/S0007114511003308, PMID 21849094.

Yesil Celiktas O, Sevimli C, Bedir E, Vardar Sukan F. Inhibitory effects of rosemary extracts carnosic acid and rosmarinic acid on the growth of various human cancer cell lines. Plant Foods Hum Nutr. 2010 Jun 1;65(2):158-63. doi: 10.1007/s11130-010-0166-4, PMID 20449663.

Ozkan A, Erdogan A. A comparative evaluation of antioxidant and anticancer activity of essential oil from Origanum onites (Lamiaceae) and its two major phenolic components. Turk J Biol. 2011 Nov 30;35(6):735-42. doi: 10.3906/biy-1011-170.

Chen J, Stavro PM, Thompson LU. Dietary flaxseed inhibits human breast cancer growth and metastasis and downregulates expression of insulin-like growth factor and epidermal growth factor receptor. Nutr Cancer. 2002 Jul 1;43(2):187-92. doi: 10.1207/S15327914NC432_9, PMID 12588699.

Tandon S, Arora A, Singh S, Monga J, Arora S. Antioxidant profiling of Triticum aestivum (wheatgrass) and its antiproliferative activity in MCF-7 breast cancer cell line. J Pharm Res. 2011 Dec;4(12):4601-4.

Save S, Chander H, Patil M, Singh S, Satti NK, Chaturbhuj G. In vitro anticancer and in vivo immunomodulatory activity of two new compounds isolated from wheatgrass (Triticum aestivum L.). Indian J Nat Prod Resour (IJNPR). 2019 Jun 9;10(1):9-22.

Shalabi M, Khilo K, Zakaria MM, Elsebaei MG, Abdo W, Awadin W. Anticancer activity of aloe vera and Calligonum comosum extracts separetely on hepatocellular carcinoma cells. Asian Pac J Trop Biomed. 2015 May 1;5(5):375-81. doi: 10.1016/S2221-1691(15)30372-5.

Parada Turska J, Paduch R, Majdan M, Kandefer Szerszen M, Rzeski W. Antiproliferative activity of parthenolide against three human cancer cell lines and human umbilical vein endothelial cells. Pharmacol Rep. 2007 Mar 1;59(2):233-7. PMID 17556802.

Jiang H, Fan J, Cheng L, HU P, Liu R. The anticancer activity of genistein is increased in estrogen receptor beta 1-positive breast cancer cells. Onco Targets Ther. 2018;11:8153-63. doi: 10.2147/OTT.S182239, PMID 30532556.

Singh NK, Yadav AK, Sirohi P, Rani M, Saraswat S, Singh MP. Anticancer activity of herbal medicine: mechanism of action. In: Akhtar MS Swamy MK, editors. Inanticancer plants: mechanisms and molecular interactions. Singapore: Springer; 2018. p. 165-96. doi: 10.1007/978-981-10-8417-1_7.

Chicca A, Adinolfi B, Martinotti E, Fogli S, Breschi MC, Pellati F. Cytotoxic effects of Echinacea root hexanic extracts on human cancer cell lines. J Ethnopharmacol. 2007 Mar 1;110(1):148-53. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2006.09.013, PMID 17052874.

WU GS, LU JJ, Guo JJ, Huang MQ, Gan L, Chen XP. Synergistic anti-cancer activity of the combination of dihydroartemisinin and doxorubicin in breast cancer cells. Pharmacol Rep. 2013 Mar 1;65(2):453-9. doi: 10.1016/s1734-1140(13)71021-1, PMID 23744430.

Lang SJ, Schmiech M, Hafner S, Paetz C, Steinborn C, Huber R. Antitumor activity of an Artemisia annua herbal preparation and identification of active ingredients. Phytomedicine. 2019 Sep 1;62:152962. doi: 10.1016/j.phymed.2019.152962, PMID 31132755.

Dwivedi V, Shrivastava R, Hussain S, Ganguly C, Bharadwaj M. Comparative anticancer potential of clove (Syzygium aromaticum) an Indian spice against cancer cell lines of various anatomical origin. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2011 Jan 1;12(8):1989-93. PMID 22292639.

Paarakh PM, Sreeram SC, Shruthi SD, Ganapathy PS. In vitro and in silico anticancer activity of ammonium glycyrrhizinate isolated from roots of Glycyrrhiza glabra Linn. Saudi J Med Pharm Sci. 2015 Sep;1(1):4-8. doi: 10.36348/sjmps.2015.v01i01.002.

JO EH, Kim SH, RA JC, Kim SR, Cho SD, Jung JW. Chemopreventive properties of the ethanol extract of Chinese licorice (Glycyrrhiza uralensis) root: induction of apoptosis and G1 cell cycle arrest in MCF-7 human breast cancer cells. Cancer Lett. 2005 Dec 18;230(2):239-47. doi: 10.1016/j.canlet.2004.12.038, PMID 16297710.

Serasanambati M, Chilakapati SR, Manikonda PK, Kanala JR. Anticancer activity of methanolic extract of Berberis aristata in MCF-7 human breast cancer cell lines. Int J Life Sci Biotechnol Pharm Res. 2015;4(1):31-5.

Kobalka AJ, Keck RW, Jankun J. Synergistic anticancer activity of biologicals from green and black tea on DU 145 human prostate cancer cells. Cent Eur J Immunol. 2015;40(1):1-4. doi: 10.5114/ceji.2015.50825, PMID 26155176.

Zhao Y, Fan D, Zheng ZP, LI ET, Chen F, Cheng KW. 8-C-(E-phenylethenyl) quercetin from onion/beef soup induces autophagic cell death in colon cancer cells through ERK activation. Mol Nutr Food Res. 2017 Feb;61(2):1600437. doi: 10.1002/mnfr.201600437, PMID 27670274.

Wang Y, Tian WX, MA XF. Inhibitory effects of onion (Allium cepa L.) extract on proliferation of cancer cells and adipocytes via inhibiting fatty acid synthase. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2012 Jan 1;13(11):5573-9. doi: 10.7314/apjcp.2012.13.11.5573, PMID 23317220.

Dimas K, Papadopoulou N, Baskakis C, Prousis CK, Tsakos M, Alkahtani S, Honisch S, Lang F, Calogeropoulou T, Alevizopoulos K, Stournaras C. Steroidal cardiac Na+/K+ATPase inhibitors exhibit strong anti-cancer potential in vitro and in prostate and lung cancer xenografts in vivo. Anti-Cancer Agents Med Chem. 2014 Jun 1;14(5):762-70.

Daddiouaissa D, Amid A, Kabbashi NA, Fuad FA, Elnour AM, Epandy MA. Antiproliferative activity of ionic liquid graviola fruit extract against human breast cancer (MCF-7) cell lines using flow cytometry techniques. J Ethnopharmacol. 2019 May 23;236:466-73. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2019.03.003, PMID 30853648.

Torres MP, Rachagani S, Purohit V, Pandey P, Joshi S, Moore ED. Graviola: a novel promising natural derived drug that inhibits tumorigenicity and metastasis of pancreatic cancer cells in vitro and in vivo through altering cell metabolism. Cancer Lett. 2012 Oct 1;323(1):29-40. doi: 10.1016/j.canlet.2012.03.031, PMID 22475682.

Davis Searles PR, Nakanishi Y, Kim NC, Graf TN, Oberlies NH, Wani MC. Milk thistle and prostate cancer: differential effects of pure flavonolignans from Silybum marianum on antiproliferative end points in human prostate carcinoma cells. Cancer Res. 2005 May 15;65(10):4448-57. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-04-4662, PMID 15899838.

Akhtar R, Ali M, Mahmood S, Sanyal SN. Anti-proliferative action of silibinin on human colon adenomatous cancer HT-29 cells. Nutr Hosp. 2014;29(2):388-92. doi: 10.3305/nh.2014.29.2.7080, PMID 24528358.

Kalla PK, Chitti S, Aghamirzaei ST, Senthilkumar R, Arjunan S. Anticancer activity of silymarin on MCF-7 and NCIH-23 cell lines. Adv Biol Res. 2014;8(2):57-61.

Zhou HB, Chen JJ, Wang WX, Cai JT, DU Q. Anticancer activity of resveratrol on implanted human primary gastric carcinoma cells in nude mice. World J Gastroenterol. 2005 Jan 14;11(2):280-4. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v11.i2.280, PMID 15633232.

Norhaizan ME, NG SK, Norashareena MS, Abdah MA. Antioxidant and cytotoxicity effect of rice bran phytic acid as an anticancer agent on ovarian breast and liver cancer cell lines. Malays J Nutr. 2011 Dec 1;17(3):367-75. PMID 22655458.

Qin T, Rasul A, Sarfraz A, Sarfraz I, Hussain G, Anwar H. Salvianolic acid A and B: potential cytotoxic polyphenols in battle against cancer via targeting multiple signaling pathways. Int J Biol Sci. 2019;15(10):2256-64. doi: 10.7150/ijbs.37467, PMID 31592132.

Nahata A. Anticancer agents: a review of relevant information on important herbal drugs. Int J Clin Pharmacoltoxicol. 2017 Mar 10;6(2):250-5.

Aruna SR. In vitro and in vivo antitumor activity of Catharanthus roseus. Int Res J Pharm Appl Sci. 2014;4(6):1-4.

Wang X, Yuan S, Wang J, Lin P, Liu G, LU Y. Anticancer activity of litchi fruit pericarp extract against human breast cancer in vitro and in vivo. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 2006 Sep 1;215(2):168-78. doi: 10.1016/j.taap.2006.02.004, PMID 16563451.

Polamuri D, Valentina CG, Suresh R, Islam A. In vitro anticancer and antioxidant activity of green coffee beans extract. AFSJ. 2020 Jul 29;17(2):24-35. doi: 10.9734/afsj/2020/v17i230188.

Patel S, Gheewala N, Suthar A, Shah A. In vitro cytotoxicity activity of Solanum nigrum extract against hela cell line and vero cell line. Int J Pharm Pharm Sci. 2009 Nov;1(1):38-46.

Published

01-02-2025

How to Cite

RANI, R., A. GAHIRWAR, and S. YADAV. “MEDICINAL PLANTS FROM THE HIMALAYAS: INSIGHTS INTO THEIR ANTICANCER EFFECTS”. International Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, vol. 17, no. 2, Feb. 2025, pp. 16-25, doi:10.22159/ijpps.2025v17i2.52819.

Issue

Section

Review Article(s)