Indonesian Medicinal Plants Investigated for Cancer-Related Activity: A Review of Ethnobotanical, Phytochemical, and Preclinical Evidence

Medicinal plants are widely used by Indonesian cancer patients, but the evidence behind this use differs in kind and strength. This review classified 24 studies from Google Scholar, ScienceDirect and PubMed, plus ten further primary studies, by evidence level: traditional use, general toxicity, cancer-cell cytotoxicity, measured mechanism, in silico prediction and compound identification. Cancer-cell data existed for 15 of 17 taxa, almost all as crude extracts, and normal-cell controls were rare. The lowest IC50 values were 23.7 µg/mL (Caulerpa racemosa hexane extract, MCF-7) and 54.48 µg/mL (Zanthoxylum acanthopodium fruit ethanol extract, 4T1). The name bajakah covered species of three genera. Mechanisms were measured only for curcumin, Stenochlaena palustris and Ocimum tenuiflorum, and no in vivo efficacy study was found. Botanical authentication, selectivity testing, compound isolation and animal studies should precede therapeutic claims.