North African Medicinal Plants Traditionally Used in Cancer Therapy.
North African Medicinal Plants Traditionally Used in Cancer Therapy.
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DOI：
10.3389/fphar.2017.00383
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发表时间：
2017
影响因子：
5.6
通讯作者：
Salgueiro L
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Alves-Silva JM;Romane A;Efferth T;Salgueiro L
背景：癌症是世界范围内死亡的主要原因，其数量逐年增加。在北非，癌症患者的数量令人震惊。同样令人震惊的是，由于几个因素，大量癌症患者只能获得传统药物，例如，经济困难。事实上，药用植物被广泛用于治疗多种疾病，包括癌症。事实上，北非国家的草药医生和植物学家为癌症治疗开出了几种植物。尽管药用植物用于治疗癌症的流行和潜力，但对于大多数描述的植物，关于其抗癌作用的科学证据仍然很少。目的：考虑到缺乏全面和系统的研究，本次审查的目的是提供一个研究的概述，即民族植物学调查和实验证据的抗癌作用，在北非用于癌症治疗的药用植物。方法：利用PubMed、Science Direct、Scopus、Web of Science等几个流行的搜索引擎进行检索。该研究主要集中在2000年至2016年期间发表的英语书面论文。结果如下：对北非草药医生传统使用的植物进行的这一审查强调，摩洛哥和阿尔及利亚是对民间医学中药用植物使用进行调查最多的国家。在使用的大量植物中，黑种草和胡芦巴是中医治疗癌症最常用的植物。此外，大量的科学证据使它们有资格成为进一步药物开发的候选者。此外，我们报告的基本细胞和分子机制。结论：总的来说，这篇综述强调了一些药用植物作为抗癌药物的治疗潜力。北非植物群为包括癌症在内的各种疾病提供了丰富的药用植物来源。阐明其作用方式是合理开发癌症治疗新药的必要条件。此外，在体内和临床试验中测试抗癌活性是必要的，以探索北非植物用于癌症治疗的全部治疗潜力。
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.