Natural Chemotherapeutic Agents for Cancer

Abstract Natural products have been the source of numerous active ingredients of the present day medicines. The therapeutic use of plants against critical human illnesses can be traced back to early civilizations of the world and represents the most significant direct antecedent to modern era of drug discovery process. With the introduction of various computational techniques, the interest toward bioactive agents from natural sources into the cancer armamentarium has changed the anticancer drug discovery process. Numerous plants have the potential of anticancer activity but are still to be investigated. Diverse types of anticancer bioactive compounds have been isolated from plant sources that are currently in various phases of clinical or preclinical trials or undergoing further investigation. Various anticancer agents from natural sources reported/studied till date for anticancer activity have been briefly reviewed in the present article. An immediate need for screening plants for anticancer activity has been emphasized so as to accelerate development of effective but safe anticancer drugs.