Prospects of Traditionally important Apocynaceae plants of India in Cancer Remediation

Abstract

Objectives: Apocynaceae Family plants in India had wide array of traditional uses and practised since years ago. This review aims to report selected plants of this possessing anticancer activity. Selected literature compiled from the search of electronic journals, books and encyclopedias etc. using search engines viz. Google, PubMed, Sciencedirect, GoogleScholar and SciFinder for all periods. The Dogbane family is includes atleast 150 genera and 1700 species. Around 25 genera and 50 species of the family reviewed here possess anticancer activity. The reason for this potential is due to: a) phytoconstituents b) poisonous constituents c) antimalarial activity and d) abundance of literature in traditional medicinal use.  Folk medicinal uses and reported anticancer potential suggests that the Apocynaceae plants can be formulated or developed into lead compounds or novel drugs or multidrug complex for treatment of cancer. Detailed screening of each species has to be performed in 64 pannel cell lines, mechanistic study performed clearly and effectiveness of extracts, fractions or pure isolated compounds is to be compared. Keywords:  Apocynaceae; Traditional Medicines; cancer; anticancer plants.