Catharanthus roseus: The cancer-fighting medicine

Abstract

Cancer is a major disease around the world with high mortality rate. Cancer is caused due to internal and external factors. Currently, the available treatment methods are chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery. The current treatment methods cause severe side effects to the patient, and more over the treatment cost is highly expensive. Medicinal plants could be the better alternative to cut down these barriers. Here in this chapter, we discuss about the importance of the medicinal plant Catharanthus roseus. Vinblastine and vincristine are the two important bioactive alkaloids produced from this plant. These two are key compounds in treatment of various types of cancer. The potent anticancer compounds are synthesized in shikimate, mevalonate and methyl-erythritol phosphate (MEP) pathways. These two compounds have many biological properties, and it is discussed in detail in the following section. Recent years have seen nanotechnology-based synthesis, and these formulations have been considered to increase the efficacy of the bioactive compounds. This could be opening doors to a new era in the development of nanotechnology-based drugs. On the other hand, toxicity concerns of the prosperity of the vinca compounds were taken into consideration.