Taye T. Alawode
Cancer is a leading cause of death in man. Treatment of cancer usually involves a combination of surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy but despite these therapeutic options, cancer remains associated with high mortality. As chemotherapy destroys the normal cells along with cancer cells, biological active components from plants are significant and important source of new drugs that are likely to lead to new drugs that will likely lead to new and better treatments for cancer. Various cancer and cancer-related conditions have been treated for ages by local herbalists and many plants have been reported as useful in the management of such conditions. However, there is little or no literature on the anticancer properties of medicinal plants used in ethnomedicine in Nigeria. This review seeks to justify, scientifically, the use of some of the plants used by traditional medical practitioners in the treatment of cancer in Nigeria.
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