Natural molecules as tumour inhibitors: Promises and prospects

• Major plant based molecules in cancer prevention and treatment.
• Advantage of natural molecules in cancer care over other molecules.
• Information on natural molecules derived from microbial and marine sources that are beneficial in cancer treatment.
• Means by which optimum concentration of natural bioactive molecules can be obtained for cancer care.

Numerous natural substances derived from plants have demonstrated promising roles in providing substantial benefit in the prevention, treatment and management of various forms of cancer. Of the myriad of natural constituents found in plants, only a limited number have been screened for their potential role in cancer prevention or their cancer inhibition efficiency using in vitro or in silico models. Of those constituents that have been screened, an even smaller number are ultimately the subject of further studies in animal models or full scale double blind placebo controlled clinical studies in humans.This paper comprises a review of the available literature with regard to the potential benefits of natural substances in the prevention, treatment and management of cancer and aims to provide readers with an insight on the potential benefits of the same. The paper will look at the mechanisms of action through altering multiple pathways and the benefits of some of the more comprehensively researched plant derived molecules like resveratrol, damnacanthal and morindone, anthocyanins and garcinol. Details on natural molecules derived from microbial and marine sources, namely didemnins, plitidepsin, dolastatins and bryostatin-1, are also discussed. Furthermore, information on pharmacological and toxicological advantages of natural molecules over synthetic molecules in the treatment of cancer is explored. Finally, the authors consider the means by which to achieve optimum benefits from natural compounds in cancer therapy, along with discussion regarding future approaches to cancer drug discovery.

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