Anti Cancer Herbs Used in Siddha System of Medicine: A Review

India is the largest manufacturer of medicinal plants and it is called the "Botanical garden of the World". So that this country having various traditional system of medicines. The Siddha system of medicine is one of the popular systems practiced in India. In this system, many herbals are used to treat different types of cancer. This paper denotes the works have been done on the anticancer herbs which are treating cancer, based on the traditional uses and scientific reports. A number of reports describe that the anticancer activity of medicinal plants is due to the presence of antioxidants in them. In fact, the medicinal plants are easily available and have no toxicity as compared to the modern (allopathic) drugs. Preparation of standardized dose and dosage regimen may play a critical role in the remedy of cancer. The rate with which cancer is progressing, it seems to have an urgent and effective effort for making good health of humans as well as animals. There is a minor road scale to derive the effective anticancer agents from medicinal plants, which need thorough research. M. Sudha 1 1. Registered Siddha medical practitioner, Ammapet, Salem, India Submission: 20 March 2018 Accepted: 27 March 2018 Published: 30 April 2018 www.ijppr. humanjournals.com Citation: M. Sudha. Ijppr.Human, 2018; Vol. 12 (1): 118-134. 119 INTRODUCTION: Cancer is a general term applied of series of malignant diseases that may affect different parts of body. These diseases are characterized by a rapid and uncontrolled formation of abnormal cells, which may mass together to form a growth or tumor or proliferate throughout the body, initiating abnormal growth at other sites. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the body through the lymphatic system or bloodstream [1]. Not all tumors are cancerous. There are over 200 different known cancers that afflict humans [2]. Cancer is a major public health burden in both developed and developing countries. The disease occurs due to some molecular changes within the cell. It was estimated that there were 10.9 million new cases, 6.7 million deaths, and 24.6 million persons living with cancer around the world [3]. It becomes the second major cause of death in the human after cardiovascular disease [4]. The major causes of cancer are smoking, dietary imbalances, hormones and chronic infections leading to chronic inflammation [5]. Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in women worldwide [6]. In men, Colon cancer and Prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer among men [7]. Approximately 5-10 percent of cancers are entirely hereditary [8]. Presently various therapies are available for the treatment of cancer such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunomodulation and surgery etc. Besides these expensive therapies, phytotherapy plays a significant role for the treatment of cancer. Since medieval times, plants have been the source of medicines for the treatment of diseases [9]. According to Crag and Newman [10] over 50 % of the drugs in clinical trials for anticancer properties were isolated from natural sources or are related to them. The National Cancer Institute collected about 35,000 plant samples from 20 countries and has screened around 114,000 extracts for anticancer activity [11]. Over 3000 species of plants with antitumor properties have been reported [12]. India is the largest manufacturer of medicinal plants and it is called the "Botanical garden of the World". So that this country having various traditional system of medicines. The Siddha system of medicine is one of the popular systems practiced in south India. The various chronic diseases are treating this system of medicine include cancer. This article describes some significant siddha medicinal plants contain Anti-cancer property. www.ijppr. humanjournals.com Citation: M. Sudha. Ijppr.Human, 2018; Vol. 12 (1): 118-134. 120 Classification of Cancers [13]: 1) Cancers of Blood and Lymphatic Systems: a) Hodgkin's disease b) Leukemia’s c) Lymphomas d) Multiple myeloma e) Waldenstrom's disease