Khazir, JabeenaMir, Bilal AhmadPilcher, Lynne A.Riley, Darren Lyall2017-03-032017-03-032014-02Khazir, J, Mir, BA, Pilcher, LA & Riley, DL 2014, 'Role of plants in anticancer drug discovery', Phytochemistry Letters, vol. 7, pp. 173-181.1874-3900 (print)1876-7486 (online)10.1016/j.phytol.2013.11.010http://hdl.handle.net/2263/59253Cancer 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.en© 2013 Phytochemical Society of Europe. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Notice : this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication inPhytochemistry Letters. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. A definitive version was subsequently published in Phytochemistry Letters, vol. 7, pp. 173-181, 2014. doi : 10.1016/j.phytol.2013.11.010.CancerDrugsNatural productsPlant derived anticancer drugsPostprint Article