Substances of Natural Origin in Medicine: Plants vs. Cancer

Continuous monitoring of the population's health is the main method of learning about disease prevalence. National and international data draw attention to the persistently high rates of cancer incidence. This necessitates the intensification of efforts aimed at developing new, more effective chemotherapeutic and chemopreventive drugs. Plants represent an invaluable source of natural substances with versatile medicinal properties. Multidirectional activities exhibited by natural substances and their ability to modulate key signaling pathways, mainly related to cancer cell death, make these substances an important research direction. This review summarizes the information regarding plant-derived chemotherapeutic drugs, including their mechanisms of action, with a special focus on selected anti-cancer drugs (paclitaxel, irinotecan) approved in clinical practice. It also presents promising plant-based drug candidates currently being tested in clinical and preclinical trials (betulinic acid, resveratrol, and roburic acid).

Automated summary

Continuous monitoring of population health informs about disease prevalence, especially the persistent high rates of cancer incidence. Efforts should be intensified to develop new and more effective chemotherapeutic and chemopreventive drugs, and plants provide a valuable source of natural substances with medicinal properties. This review summarizes the information on plant-derived chemotherapeutic drugs, focusing on approved anti-cancer drugs (paclitaxel, irinotecan) and promising plant-based drug candidates (betulinic acid, resveratrol, roburic acid) tested in clinical and preclinical trials.