Ginseng Nanoparticles: A Budding Tool for Cancer Treatment

anticancer • ginsenoside • ginsenoside nanoconjugates • medicinal and functional food • metal nanoparticles • Panax ginseng • phytochemicals CancerCancer is one of the most incurable diseases and is a major cause of death worldwide.It is estimated that the annual number of deaths due to cancer will be around 13.2 million by 2030 in all over the world [1].Although chemotherapy is one of the mainstays for its treatment, the side effects as well as disadvantages, such as, normal cell cytotoxicity, chemoresistance and the ability to prevent the occurrence of cancers have been considered as important hitches.Thus, the complementary and alternative medicines with the utilization of the medicinal and functional food herbs could be an alternative method to combat the progression of cancers.In this juncture, oriental adaptogenic herbs (i.e., ginseng) could be promising candidates for the treatment of cancer as safe, complementary and alternative medicines as well as medicinal and functional food [1,2]. Ginseng & its relations to cancerGinseng or scientifically listed in the Panax species as Panax ginseng (Korean ginseng), P. quinquefolius (American ginseng) and P. notoginseng (Sanchi ginseng) has been considered one of the highly valued medicinal plants in traditional Chinese medicine for more than thousands of years.Commonly, ginseng is also known as 'king of all herbs'.Derived from Latin, 'Panax' means 'all-healing' and 'ginseng' is literally defined as 'essence of men' with its roots resembling