Contents
Special Issue Topic

Plant Extracts as an Infinite Resource for New Anticancer Agents

Guest Editor

Dr. Katrin Sak E-Mail

NGO Praeventio, Tartu, Estonia

Research Keywords: Phytochemicals; plant polyphenols; flavonoids; anticancer activities; interactions with classical cancer treatment modalities

About the Special lssue

Since a great success of screening program launched by the US National Cancer Institute in 1960 to identify new anticancer agents from plants that ultimately led to discovery of important chemotherapeutic drugs such as paclitaxel, vincristine and vinblastine, a huge number of studies have been conducted to isolate and characterize novel bioactive compounds from various plant extracts. Considering the very complex chemical structures of paclitaxel and vincristine, it has been even argued that they might never have been discovered without investigation into plants and pharmacological activities of their constituents. However, the expansion of combinatorial chemistry for drug discovery in the 1990s considerably declined the interest in plant products as a natural source of lead molecules for novel and more efficient cancer therapeutics. As a consequence, to date, only around 10% of approximately 250,000 higher plant species have been explored for their therapeutic potential against malignant disorders. On the other hand, chemotherapeutic drugs that were initially derived from plant products and introduced into clinical use several decades ago belong to the basic arsenal for fighting against cancer still today, affecting different molecular targets and ultimately leading to the death of cancer cells. This fact clearly suggests that a huge diversity of compounds biosynthesized by plants might hold some further promise and offer as-yet-undiscovered possibilities in combating malignancies, significantly raising the interest in plant-derived agents over the recent years. Therefore, papers about diverse anticancer properties of plant extracts and their bioactive components are welcomed to be submitted to this special issue, presenting structures of novel phytochemicals and unraveling their molecular mechanisms in different cancer models.

Keywords: Plant extracts; Phytochemicals; Anticancer activities; Chemotherapeutic drugs; Apoptosis; Metastasis; Angiogenesis; Molecular mechanisms; Cellular signaling cascades

Published Articles

Open Access Original Article
Cola rostrata K. Schum. constituents induce cytotoxicity through reactive oxygen species generation and mitochondrial membrane depolarisation
Babatunde E. Ajayi ... Amos A. Fatokun
Published: December 28, 2023 Explor Target Antitumor Ther. 2023;4:1328–1344
2040 25 2
Open Access Review
Anticancer action of naturally occurring emodin for the controlling of cervical cancer
Priyanka S. Lande ... Leena P. Joge
Published: August 31, 2023 Explor Target Antitumor Ther. 2023;4:690–698
2303 41 2
Open Access Systematic Review
Anticancer of genus Syzygium: a systematic review
Mahmoud Dogara Abdulrahman, Harmand A. Hama
Published: April 27, 2023 Explor Target Antitumor Ther. 2023;4:273–293
3643 72 6
Open Access Original Article
A potent bioactive fraction against colon cancer from Plectranthus vettiveroides
Faisal M. Athikkavil ... Smitha V. Bava
Published: April 24, 2023 Explor Target Antitumor Ther. 2023;4:227–239
2747 38 2
Open Access Review
Ginnalin A and hamamelitannin: the unique gallotannins with promising anti-carcinogenic potential
Rippin ... Anil K. Sharma
Published: April 21, 2023 Explor Target Antitumor Ther. 2023;4:208–216
2547 37 6
Open Access Original Article
Enhancement of reactive oxygen species production in triple negative breast cancer cells treated with electric pulses and resveratrol
Pragatheiswar Giri ... Raji Sundararajan
Published: February 28, 2023 Explor Target Antitumor Ther. 2023;4:42–56
2146 38 4
Open Access Systematic Review
Crude extract of Ficus deltoidea Jack (FD) as a natural biological therapy
Mahmoud Dogara Abdulrahman
Published: February 28, 2023 Explor Target Antitumor Ther. 2023;4:57–88
2510 32 2
Open Access Review
Onosma L. as a source of anticancer agents: phytochemistry to mechanistic insight
Ajay Kumar ... Satwinderjeet Kaur
Published: October 31, 2022 Explor Target Antitumor Ther. 2022;3:719–733
2714 55 2
Open Access Review
Potential role of resveratrol and its nano-formulation as anti-cancer agent
Akshay Kumar ... Dilpreet Singh
Published: October 31, 2022 Explor Target Antitumor Ther. 2022;3:643–658
4113 61 24
Open Access Perspective
Anticancer action of plant products: changing stereotyped attitudes
Katrin Sak
Published: August 15, 2022 Explor Target Antitumor Ther. 2022;3:423–427
2256 53 6