# Plant-Derived Bioactive Compounds for Rhabdomyosarcoma Therapy In Vitro: A Systematic Review
## 1 Introduction  
Sarcomas are a large group of rare malignant mesenchymal tumors that originate in soft tissues, bone, or nervous tissue, with an incidence of approximately 7% in children and 1% in adults [1]. Half of pediatric patients diagnosed with soft tissue sarcoma are diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) [2]. There are four histological subtypes of RMS: embryonal, alveolar, pleomorphic, and spindle cell/sclerosis, with the first two being the most common, accounting for an incidence of 60% and 30%, respectively [3]. Although it depends on factors such as the site of the primary tumor, the patient's age, or the possibility of complete resection, the treatment of RMS is based on surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy [4]. Despite treatment, the survival rate for this type of tumor is low, at 63% four years after diagnosis and less than 20% three years after diagnosis if metastasis occurs [5]. Due to this, the development of new treatments is necessary to improve the survival rate of these patients.  
In recent years, plant extracts prepared from the bioactive components of plants have been studied due to their anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antioxidant, and antitumor properties [6; 7]. It has been shown that these bioactive components of plant origin can exhibitselective antitumor activity, enhancing the antitumor effect of traditional chemotherapy drugs and being used as a complementary treatment. In vitro studies of extracts obtained from the plant _Christia vespertilionis_ of the _Fabaceae_ family showed their antitumor effect in MCF7 breast cancer cells with a selective effect against the non-tumor line MCF 10A [8]. Extracts obtained from the root of _Taraxacum_ spp. have also been shown to have strong antitumor activity in pancreatic cancer, melanoma, leukemias, colorectal cancer, and gastric tumors [9].  
Numerous plant extracts also have antitumor activity against different subtypes of sarcomas. This is the case for the aqueous extracts of _Salvia clandestina_ tested on the osteosarcoma MG-63 cell line, showing an enhancement of the effect of free cisplatin [10]. Most of this antitumor effect is attributed to the phytochemicals in these vegetables, highlighting polyphenols, tannins, carotenoids, terpenoids, flavonoids, glycosylides, or alkaloids [11]. Another plant extract with antitumor activity in osteosarcoma is the aqueous leaf extract of the mangrove plant _Rhizophora apiculate_. In addition to presenting antitumor activity, this was improved with the loading of its bioactive compounds into silver nanoparticles [12]. The ethyl acetate extract of _Caulis Spatholobi_, rich in tannins, has shown antitumor activity against the osteosarcoma Saos-2 cell line [13]. The _Artemisia annua_ extract derivatives, called dihydroarteminin, demonstrated potent antitumor activity in osteosarcoma cells with IC\({}_{50}\) values between 10 and 40 uM, activating apoptotic pathways and inhibiting the formation of metastasis [14]. Focusing on rhabdomyosarcoma cell lines, few studies have been found on the use of plant extracts with antitumor effects. One of them uses two extracts obtained from _Macaranga barteri_ and _Calliandra portoricensis_, observing a significant reduction in the IC\({}_{50}\) value compared to control cells [15]. Another article presents the cytotoxic effect of _Rosmarinus officinalis_ extract on the TE671 cell line, resulting in an IC\({}_{50}\) value of 0.249 mg/mL, suggesting its potential use as an antitumor in this cell line [16].  
Given the low incidence of RMS, few studies have investigated this type of tumor since it is considered a rare malignant tumor. Therefore, the aim of this systematic review is the study of all research conducted to date on plant extracts or bioactive compounds from plants that have antitumor activity against RMS.