Cancer is still the second-leading cause of death in industrialized countries.
The development of resistance to anticancer drugs and the severe side effects of current
drugs prevent treatment with drug doses high enough for long-lasting remissions or
sustainable cures. There have been unprecedented efforts to uncover new treatments
and the knowledge of cancer has been tremendously increasing for the past few
decades. Medicinal plants are a fertile ground to be used as phytotherapy and to isolate
phytochemicals with interesting pharmacological features. Medicinal plants are being
increasingly documented as useful consistent treatments for cancer. A large volume of
clinical studies have reported the beneficial effects of herbal medicines on the survival,
immune modulation, and quality of life (QOL) of cancer patients when these herbal
medicines are used in combination with conventional therapeutics. This book chapter
should provide useful technological support for the evidence-based application of
herbal medicines in cancer therapy. Natural products have always been a major source
of drug development in cancer therapy.
Keywords: Chemopreventive agents, Cancer therapy, Chemotherapy, Medicinal plants, Side effects.
