Medicinal plants cultivated in Egypt with anticancer potential; a systematic review

Abstract

The increase in cases of various cancers, the number of cancer patients, and the serious side effects of current chemical treatments have encouraged researchers to discover novel and more effective drugs from plant sources. In this review, PubMed and Scopus were searched for English-language peer-reviewed articles published since 1994, using the keywords: Medicinal plants, Egypt, and Cancer. The inclusion criteria for this systematic review were English peer-reviewed original research articles. A total of 286 studies were included. Studies have shown that the active compounds in certain plants can have anticancer activities by various mechanisms, such as cell cycle arrest, apoptosis induction, and antioxidant effects. Additionally, it is evident that medicinal plants can act as inhibitors of cancer cells. Plants can also act as immune checkpoint inhibitors, which inhibit proteins such as PD-L1 on tumor cells, PD-1 and CTLA-4 on T cells, and help to regulate immune responses. This review also discusses the efficacy of nanoparticles of these plants against cancer cells. The findings indicate the high potential of investigating the bioactive anticancer components of Egyptian medicinal plants for advancing novel treatments that are more effective in combating cancer. The extracts and active compounds of the medicinal plants detailed in this review could provide the foundation for further clinical trials to be conducted, to develop new anticancer drugs.