North African Medicinal Plants Traditionally Used in Cancer Therapy

Publication type:
Journal article
Metadata:
Autoren
  • Jorge M Alves-Silva
  • Abderrahmane Romane
  • Thomas Efferth
  • Lgia Salgueiro
Autoren-URL
https://www.webofscience.com/api/gateway?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=fis-test-1&SrcAuth=WosAPI&KeyUT=WOS:000404006800001&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=WOS_CPL
DOI
10.3389/fphar.2017.00383
Externe Identifier
  • Clarivate Analytics Document Solution ID: EY5HC
  • PubMed Identifier: 28694778
ISSN
1663-9812
Zeitschrift
FRONTIERS IN PHARMACOLOGY
Schlüsselwörter
  • anticancer
  • ethnobotanical
  • medicinal plants
  • North Africa
  • cancer
Artikelnummer
ARTN 383
Datum der Veröffentlichung
2017
Status
Published
Titel
North African Medicinal Plants Traditionally Used in Cancer Therapy
Sub types
  • Article
Ausgabe der Zeitschrift
8

Data source: Web of Science (Lite)

Other metadata sources:
Autoren
  • Jorge M Alves-Silva
  • Abderrahmane Romane
  • Thomas Efferth
  • Lígia Salgueiro
DOI
10.3389/fphar.2017.00383
eISSN
1663-9812
Zeitschrift
Frontiers in Pharmacology
Online publication date
2017
Status
Published online
Herausgeber
Frontiers Media SA
Herausgeber URL
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2017.00383
Datum der Datenerfassung
2022
Titel
North African Medicinal Plants Traditionally Used in Cancer Therapy
Ausgabe der Zeitschrift
8

Data source: Crossref

Abstract
<b>Background:</b> Cancer is a major cause of mortality worldwide with increasing numbers by the years. In North Africa, the number of cancer patients is alarming. Also shocking is that a huge number of cancer patients only have access to traditional medicines due to several factors, e.g., economic difficulties. In fact, medicinal plants are widely used for the treatment of several pathologies, including cancer. Truthfully, herbalists and botanists in North African countries prescribe several plants for cancer treatment. Despite the popularity and the potential of medicinal plants for the treatment of cancer, scientific evidence on their anticancer effects are still scarce for most of the described plants. <b>Objective:</b> Bearing in mind the lack of comprehensive and systematic studies, the aim of this review is to give an overview of studies, namely ethnobotanical surveys and experimental evidence of anticancer effects regarding medicinal plants used in North Africa for cancer therapy. <b>Method:</b> The research was conducted on several popular search engines including PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus and Web of Science. The research focused primarily on English written papers published between the years 2000 and 2016. <b>Results:</b> This review on plants traditionally used by herbalists in North Africa highlights that Morocco and Algeria are the countries with most surveys on the use of medicinal plants in folk medicine. Among the plethora of plants used, <i>Nigella sativa</i> and <i>Trigonella foenum-graecum</i> are the most referred ones by herbalists for the treatment of cancer. Moreover, a plethora of scientific evidence qualifies them as candidates for further drug development. Furthermore, we report on the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms. <b>Conclusion:</b> Overall, this review highlights the therapeutic potential of some medicinal plants as anticancer agents. The North African flora offers a rich source of medicinal plants for a wide array of diseases, including cancer. The elucidation of their modes of action represents an indispensable condition for the rational development of new drugs for cancer treatment. Furthermore, testing the anticancer activity <i>in vivo</i> and in clinical trials are warranted to explore the full therapeutic potential of North African plants for cancer therapy.
Addresses
  • Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology, Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Life Sciences and Faculty of Pharmacy, University of CoimbraCoimbra, Portugal.
Autoren
  • Jorge M Alves-Silva
  • Abderrahmane Romane
  • Thomas Efferth
  • Thomas Efferth
  • Lígia Salgueiro
DOI
10.3389/fphar.2017.00383
eISSN
1663-9812
Externe Identifier
  • PubMed Identifier: 28694778
  • PubMed Central ID: PMC5483438
Open access
true
ISSN
1663-9812
Zeitschrift
Frontiers in pharmacology
Sprache
eng
Medium
Electronic-eCollection
Online publication date
2017
Open access status
Open Access
Paginierung
383
Datum der Veröffentlichung
2017
Status
Published
Publisher licence
CC BY
Datum der Datenerfassung
2017
Titel
North African Medicinal Plants Traditionally Used in Cancer Therapy.
Sub types
  • review-article
  • Review
  • Journal Article
Ausgabe der Zeitschrift
8

Files

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2017.00383/pdf https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5483438?pdf=render

Data source: Europe PubMed Central

Abstract
Background: Cancer is a major cause of mortality worldwide with increasing numbers by the years. In North Africa, the number of cancer patients is alarming. Also shocking is that a huge number of cancer patients only have access to traditional medicines due to several factors, e.g., economic difficulties. In fact, medicinal plants are widely used for the treatment of several pathologies, including cancer. Truthfully, herbalists and botanists in North African countries prescribe several plants for cancer treatment. Despite the popularity and the potential of medicinal plants for the treatment of cancer, scientific evidence on their anticancer effects are still scarce for most of the described plants. Objective: Bearing in mind the lack of comprehensive and systematic studies, the aim of this review is to give an overview of studies, namely ethnobotanical surveys and experimental evidence of anticancer effects regarding medicinal plants used in North Africa for cancer therapy. Method: The research was conducted on several popular search engines including PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus and Web of Science. The research focused primarily on English written papers published between the years 2000 and 2016. Results: This review on plants traditionally used by herbalists in North Africa highlights that Morocco and Algeria are the countries with most surveys on the use of medicinal plants in folk medicine. Among the plethora of plants used, Nigella sativa and Trigonella foenum-graecum are the most referred ones by herbalists for the treatment of cancer. Moreover, a plethora of scientific evidence qualifies them as candidates for further drug development. Furthermore, we report on the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms. Conclusion: Overall, this review highlights the therapeutic potential of some medicinal plants as anticancer agents. The North African flora offers a rich source of medicinal plants for a wide array of diseases, including cancer. The elucidation of their modes of action represents an indispensable condition for the rational development of new drugs for cancer treatment. Furthermore, testing the anticancer activity in vivo and in clinical trials are warranted to explore the full therapeutic potential of North African plants for cancer therapy.
Date of acceptance
2017
Autoren
  • Jorge M Alves-Silva
  • Abderrahmane Romane
  • Thomas Efferth
  • Lígia Salgueiro
Autoren-URL
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28694778
DOI
10.3389/fphar.2017.00383
Externe Identifier
  • PubMed Central ID: PMC5483438
ISSN
1663-9812
Zeitschrift
Front Pharmacol
Schlüsselwörter
  • North Africa
  • anticancer
  • cancer
  • ethnobotanical
  • medicinal plants
Sprache
eng
Country
Switzerland
Paginierung
383
Datum der Veröffentlichung
2017
Status
Published online
Titel
North African Medicinal Plants Traditionally Used in Cancer Therapy.
Sub types
  • Journal Article
  • Review
Ausgabe der Zeitschrift
8

Data source: PubMed

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