e-ISSN: 2249-622X SHORT REVIEW * Corresponding author: sushma.mehla@gmail.com Page1 Page1 Page1 Page1 Medicinal Plants of Asian Origin Having Anticancer Potential: Short Review Sushma Kainsa* 1 , Praveen Kumar 2 , Poonam Rani 3 1 Phd- Research scholar, Maharishi Markandeshwar University, Mullana, Haryana, India 2 Field officer, Indian Farmers Fertilizers Cooperative Limited, Ambala city, Haryana, India 3 M.Sc. Student, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli, Tamilnadu, India. ABSTRACT Cancer is a major public health burden in both developed and developing countries. It is the second largest common disease spread world-wide. Traditional medicines or herbal formulations can serve as the source of potential new drugs, so that initial research focuses on the active constituent of the plants. The development of novel plant derived natural products and their analogs for anticancer activity are going day by day. A number of promising agents of medicinal plants are used in clinical and preclinical development. Several anticancer agents including taxol, vinblastine, vincristine, camptothecin derivatives, topotecan and irinotecan, etoposide etc. derived from plants are in clinical use all over world. KEYWORDS: Cancer, vinblastine, camptothecin derivatives, anticancer, Allium sativum 1. INTRODUCTION Plants have been used for the treatment of various diseases for thousands of years. Terrestrial plants have been used as medicines in Egypt, China, India and Greece. Now, an impressive number of modern drugs have been developed from the plants. Plant secondary metabolites have proved to be an excellent reservoir of new medical compounds. Coronary disease and cancer together are responsible for over 80% of all deaths in industrialized countries. Eight out of ten people dies due to coronary heart diseases and cancer. The second-largest common disease is cancer-malignant tumors. Incidences of cancer keep increasing on a global scale. There is only one plausible explanation for this conventional medicine does not know the causes for cancer nor how this disease spreads. Because of this there is no effective cancer therapy available and the disease can keep expanding on a global scale. [1] Cancer is a major public health burden in both developed and developing countries. It was estimated that there were 10.9 million new cases, 6.7 million deaths, and 24.6 million persons living with cancer around the world in 2012. [8-10] Cancer is a group of diseases characterized by unregulated division and spread of cells. Cancer is a complex genetic disease that is caused primarily by environmental factors. The cancer-causing agents (carcinogens) can be present in food and water, in the air, and in chemicals and sunlight that people are exposed to. Since epithelial cells cover the skin, line the respiratory and alimentary tracts, and metabolize ingested carcinogens, it is not surprising that over 90% of cancers occur in epithelia. More significantly, a globalization of unhealthy lifestyles, particularly cigarette smoking and the adoption of many features of the modern Western diet (high fat, low fibre content) will increase cancer incidence. Tobacco use and diet each account for about 30% of new cancer cases, with infection associated with a further 15%; thus, much of cancer is preventable. [2-3] CLASSIFICATION AND NOMENCLATURE OF CANCER: IŶ terŵs of ďehaǀiour, tuŵours are either ďeŶigŶ or ŵaligŶaŶt. BeŶigŶ tuŵours are geŶerallLJ sloǁ-growing expansive masses that compress rather than invade Article Details Received: 19 th June 2012 Received in revised form: 27 July 2012 Accepted: 15 th Aug 2012 Available online 22 nd Aug 2012 Online ISSN 2249–622X http://www.jbiopharm.com