Abstract:
Cancer is one of the major causes of death and the number of new cases, as well as the number of
individuals living with cancer, is expanding continuously. Worldwide the alarming rise in mortality rate
due to cancer has fuelled the pursuit for effective anticancer agents to combat this disease. Finding novel
and efficient compounds of natural origin has been a major point of concern for research in the
pharmaceutical sciences. Plants have been seen to possess the potential to be excellent lead structures
and to serve as a basis of promising therapeutic agents for cancer treatment. Many successful anti-cancer
drugs currently in use or their analogues are plant derived and many more are under clinical trials. This
review aims to highlight the invaluable role that plants have played, and continue to play, in the
discovery of anticancer agents.