Abstract

COJ Reviews & Research

A Brief Review of Secondary Plant Metabolites as Anticancer Agents

  • Open or CloseNaicker L and Mohanlall V*

    Department of Biotechnology and Food Technology, South Africa

    *Corresponding author:Mohanlall V, Department of Biotechnology and Food Technology, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Durban University of Technology, South Africa

Submission: April 09, 2020; Published: May 18, 2020

DOI: 10.31031/COJRR.2020.02.000545

ISSN: 2639-0590
Volume2 Issue4

Abstract

Plants have provided a source of medicine from the beginning of human history and are the core of modern medicine. Moreover, plant-based drug discovery has led to the development of various anticancer drugs (such as vincristine, vinblastine, etoposide, paclitaxel, camptothecin, topotecan and irinotecan). The use of botanical, photochemical, biological and molecular techniques have facilitated the discovery of novel secondary metabolites from native and indigenous plants that can inhibit the human topoisomerase II enzyme (target for anticancer drugs) and kill cancer cells. Therefore, the aim of this review was to further investigate the anticancer activity of secondary metabolites from native and indigenous plants and determine the classes of compounds that contributed towards its activity.

Keywords: Anticancer; Secondary metabolites; Topotecan; Etoposide; Vincristine

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