Title:Roles of Medicinal Plants and Constituents in Gynecological Cancer Therapy: Current Literature and Future Directions
VOLUME: 20 ISSUE: 20
Author(s):Esra Küpeli Akkol*, Fatma Tuğçe Gürağaç Dereli, Eduardo Sobarzo-Sánchez and Haroon Khan
Affiliation:Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Gazi University, Etiler 06330, Ankara, Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Gazi University, Etiler 06330, Ankara, Instituto de Investigacion e Innovacion en Salud, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Central de Chile, 8330507 Santiago, Department of Pharmacy, Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan 23200
Keywords:Gynecological oncology, Medicinal plant, Drug molecule, Cancer, Natural product, Female reproductive system.
Abstract:
Gynecologic cancers, including cervical, primary peritoneal, ovarian, uterine/endometrial,
vaginal and vulvar cancers and gestational trophoblastic disease, are characterized by abnormal cell
proliferation in female reproductive cells. Due to the variable pathology of these cancers and the lack
of appropriate screening tests in developing countries, cancer diagnosis can be reported in advanced
stages in most women and this situation adversely affects prognosis and clinical outcomes of illness.
For this reason, many researchers in the field of gynecological oncology have carried out many studies.
The treatment of various gynecological problems, which cause physical, biological and psychosocial
conditions such as fear, shame, blame and anger, has been important throughout the history. Treatment
with herbs has become popular nowadays due to the serious side effects of the synthetic drugs used in
treatment and the medical and economical problems caused by them. Many scientists have identified
various active drug substances through in vivo and in vitro biological activity studies on medicinal
plants from the past to the present. While the intrinsic complexity of natural product-based drug discoveries
requires highly integrated interdisciplinary approaches, scientific and technological advances
and research trends clearly show that natural products will be among the most important new drug
sources in the future.
In this review, an overview of the studies conducted for the discovery of multitargeted drug molecules
in the rational treatment of gynecological cancers is presented.