Bioactivity and Therapeutic Potential of Plant Extracts in Cancer and Infectious Diseases

摘要

Medicinal plants have been used particularly in resource poor communities of the African continent as an alternative for the treatment of infectious diseases. Traditional medicine plays a critical role in treatment of chronic debilitating and life threatening conditions and infectious diseases. Cancer is one such condition whose therapeutic intervention is commonly through inexpensive traditional herbal remedies. Increasingly industrialised societies are developing drugs and chemotherapeutics from these traditional herbal plants. Plant biogeography determines the abundance and availability of medicinal plants which in turn determine their use by africango communities. Recent findings of bioactivity and therapeutic potential of plant extracts in cancer and infectious diseases are herein summarized and discussed.