Evaluation of Anticancer Activity of Ethanolic Extract of Premna corymbosa Rottl. Leaves

Herbal Medicine sometimes referred to as Herbalism or Botanical Medicine, is the use of herbs for their therapeutic or medicinal value. An herb is a plant or plant part valued for its medicinal, aromatic or savory qualities. Herb plants produce and contain a variety of chemical substances that act upon the body [1]. Medicinal plants have been used as remedies for human diseases for centuries. The reason for using them as medicine lies in the fact that they contain chemical components of therapeutic value [2].The medicinal value of plants lies in some chemical substances (usually secondary metabolites), that produce a definite physiological action on the human body. The most important of these bioactive compounds of plants are alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins and phenolic [3].Cancer is the cause of more than six million deaths each year in the world. In 2001, about 1,268,000 new cancer cases and 553,400 deaths were reported in the United States [4]. For a long time, plants are being used in the treatment of cancer [5].According to an estimate, 50% of breast cancer and 37% of prostate cancer patients use herbal products [6]. More than 60% of currently used anticancer agents are derived in one way or another from natural sources [7,8]. Biological active components from plants are significant and important source of new drugs that are likely to lead to new and better treatments for breast cancer. As chemotherapy destroys the normal cells along with cancer cells, sometimes cancer cells can develop resistance to treatment through mutations [9]. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 4 billion people, 80% of the world population, presently use herbal medicine for some aspect of primary health care. Herbal medicine is a major component in all indigenous people’s traditional medicine and a common element in Ayurvedic, homeopathic, naturopathic, traditional oriental, and Native American Indian medicine. WHO notes that of 119 plant-derived pharmaceutical medicines, about 74% are used in modern medicine in ways that correlated directly with their traditional uses as plant medicines by native cultures [10].