Anticancer Plants: Clinical Trials and Nanotechnology

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in human beings. Though several synthetic medicines are used to treat cancer, they are largely inefficient and unsafe. In contrast, plants, which have been used for medicinal purposes since time immemorial, have proved to be useful in fighting cancer, with natural compounds from plants and their derivatives offering safe and effective treatment and management for several types of cancer.

Plants such as Catharanthus roseus, Podophyllum peltatum, Taxus brevifolia, Camptotheca acuminate, Andrographis paniculata, Crateva nurvala, Croton tonkinensis, Oplopanax horridus etc., are important source of chemotherapeutic compounds. These plants have proven their value in the treatment of cancer and various other infectious diseases, and several common anticancer compounds such as taxol, podophyllotoxins, camptothecin, vinblastine, vincristine, homoharringtonine etc. have been isolated and purified from these medicinal plants.

Unfortunately, many of these anticancer plants have become endangered due to ruthless and irresponsible harvesting practices. Hence, there is a need to conserve these species and to propagate them on a large scale using plant tissue culture. Alternatively, plant cell tissue and organ culture biotechnology could be adopted to produce these anticancer compounds without the need for cultivation. A better grasp and continuing exploration of these isolated molecules and products could provide a powerful alternative means of reducing cancer risk.

“Anticancer Plants: Volume 3, Clinical Trials and Nanotechnology” provides a timely review of concepts and experimental data on the application of anticancer plants and their compounds in clinical trials, and on the use of nanotechnology in cancer therapy.

Dr. Mohd. Sayeed Akhtar is an Assistant Professor at Gandhi Faiz-e-Aam College, Shahjahanpur, India. He received his PhD degree from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), India in 2008, prior to conducting postdoctoral research at the Botanical Institute, University of Basel (BIB), Switzerland (2008-2010) and Chonbuk National University (CBNU), Republic of Korea in 2011. He was an Assistant Professor at Jimma University, Ethiopia (2011-2014), and a Fellow Researcher at the Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), (2014-2015). Dr. Akhtar has 14 years of research and 8 years of teaching experience in Soil Microbiology, Applied Microbiology, Environmental Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Plant Pathology and Plant Nano-biotechnology.

He is the author or co-author of over a hundred articles in peer-reviewed journals, conference proceedings and book chapters, and has edited five books with international publishers. His current research focuses on rhizospheric plant-microbe interactions and their molecular biotechnology, bioremediation, biomineralization, nanofertilizers and nanobiotechnology.

Dr. Mallappa Kumara Swamy is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Department of Crop Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). He received his PhD (Biotechnology) from Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur, India in 2013. He has more than 14 years of teaching and research experience in the fields of plant biotechnology, secondary metabolite production, phytochemistry and bioactive studies. Dr. Swamy has authored more than 50 research publications in peer-reviewed journals, and is an editorial board member and reviewer for several high-impact international journals. His current focus is on cell and tissue culture technology for bioactive compound production, and on nanotechnology for medical applications.