Natural anticancer agents: prospection of medicinal and aromatic plants in modern chemoprevention and chemotherapy

Abstract

Natural products obtained from medicinal and aromatic plants are increasingly recognized as promising anticancer agents due to their structural richness, including terpene and flavonoid molecules, which induce apoptosis and modulate gene expression. These compounds offer an alternative to conventional treatments, often costly, which face challenges such as multidrug resistance. This review aims to provide a promising alternative approach to effectively control cancer by consolidating significant findings in identifying natural products and anticancer agent development from medicinal and aromatic plants. It synthesizes the findings of a comprehensive search of academic databases, such as PubMed and Springer, prioritizing articles published in recognized peer-reviewed journals that address the bioprospecting of medicinal and aromatic plants as anticancer agents. The review addresses the anticancer activities of plant extracts and essential oils, which were selected for their relevance to chemoprevention and chemotherapy. Compounds successfully used in cancer therapy include Docetaxel (an antimitotic agent), Etoposide VP-16 (an antimitotic agent and topoisomerase II inhibitor), Topotecan (a topoisomerase I inhibitor), Thymoquinone (a Reactive Oxygen Species-ROS inducer), and Phenethyl isothiocyanate (with multiple mechanisms). The review highlights natural products such as Hinokitiol, Mahanine, Hesperetin, Borneol, Carvacrol, Eugenol, Epigallocatechin gallate, and Capsaicin for their demonstrated efficacy against multiple cancer types, including breast, cervical, gastric, colorectal, pancreatic, lung, prostate, and skin cancer. Finally, it highlights the need for continued bioprospecting studies to identify novel natural products that can be successfully used in modern chemoprevention and chemotherapy.

Keywords: Cancer cell lines; Chemoprevention; Chemotherapy; Essential oils; Medicinal and aromatic plants; Natural volatiles; Vegetable extracts.

Fig. 1

Chemical structures of recognized anticancer agents: Docetaxel (1), Etoposide VP-16 (2), Topotecan (3), Thymoquinone (4), and Phenethyl isothiocyanate (5)

Fig. 2

Chemical structures of terpene, alkaloid, and polyphenolic with anticancer properties: Hinokitiol (6), Mahanine (7), Curcumin (8), Resveratrol (9), and Ellagic acid (10)

Fig. 3

Chemical structures of flavonoid, tannin, and phenolic molecules with anticancer properties: Hesperetin (11), Naringenin (12), Apigenin (13), Epigallocatechin gallate (14), Gingerol (15), and Capsaicin (16)

Fig. 4

Chemical structures of Carnosic acid (17), Carnosol (18), Rosmanol (19), Limonin (20), Evodiamine (21), Polygonumins A (22), Nobiletin (23), Poncirin (24), Xanthomicrol (25), Calycopterin (26), and Isogravacridonechlorine (27)

Fig. 5

Chemical structures of anticancer constituents from Cyperus rotundus L.: 2′S-[2-Hydroxypentacosanoylamino]-1′,3′S,4′R nonadecanetriol (28), Behenic acid (29), β-Sitosterol (30), Mandassidione (31), Behenic acid monoglyceride (32), Sitosteryl (6`-hentriacontanoyl)-β-D-galactopyranoside (33), β-Sitosterol 3-O-β-D-glucoside (34), Luteolin (35), and Pinellic acid (36)

Fig. 6

Cellular targets involved in anticancer activity of essential oils. Adapted from Gautam et al. [6]

Fig. 7

Volatile compounds of EOs with anticancer properties: Borneol (37), Carvacrol (38), 1,8-Cineole (39), Citral (40), Limonene (41), Linalool (42), α-Pinene (43), Terpinen-4-ol (44), Decanal (45), α-Bisabolol (46), β-Caryophyllene (47), Isofuranodiene (48), Viridiflorol (49) and Eugenol (50)