Elucidation of Anticancerous Potential of Plant Extracts Against Cervical Cancer

Cancer has been a public health problem that has gained a lot of death.However, inspite of the advances in the diagnosis and treatment of cervical cancer, women follow the struggle versus this disease.Also, those patients suffer from limited efficacy and specificity, undesirable effects, drug resistance, and a high cost of treatments.Early detection and affordable drugs that have clinical efficacy have to go simultaneously in order to seriously address this health challenge.Plant-based drugs with potent anticancer effects should add to the efforts because it will find a cheap drug with limited clinical side effects.So, keeping this in mind, an attempt has been made to explore the potential of plant extracts or constituents known to exhibit anticancerous activity or exert cytotoxic effect in human cervical cells.Alkaloids such as those isolated from C. vincetoxicum and T. tanakae naulorals A and B, isolated from the roots of N. orientalis, (6aR)-normecambroline isolated from the bark of N. dealbatacan be promising in different human cervical carcinoma cells with the IC 50 of 4.0-8μg/mL.However, other compounds such as rhinacanthone and neolignans isolated from different plants are not far behind and kill cervical cancer cells at a very low concentration.Among plant extracts that enhance the effect of known anticancer drugs aloe vera perhaps is the best one.The cytotoxic capability and apoptotic index of certain plant extracts were found to be significant in further enhancing the combination of different human cervical carcinoma cells and therefore they are considered as a promising herbal-based anticancer agent.However, further research needs to be further investigated in various cervical cell lines and most importantly, in in vivo cervical culture for possible use as an alternative and safe anticancer drug.