Anticancer bioactive compounds such as phenolic compounds, flavonoids and alkaloids are present in medicinal plants and modulate proliferative and apoptotic factors to prevent tumor growth.
Botanical derivatives induce apoptosis and cell cycle arrest via activation of caspase- and p53/ROS-dependent pathways. Because of this mechanism botanical herb derivatives prevent cell survival/proliferation, angiogenesis, and metastasis.
Botanical extracts have been found to have anticancer effects,and used as chemotherapeutic drugs, including vincristine derived from periwinkle plants (Catharanthus roseus), taxanes from the bark of the pacific yew tree (Taxus brevifolia), epipodophyllotoxin from the mandrake root of Podophyllum peltatum, and camptothecin from the bark and stem of Camptotheca acuminata.
