Perspective Studies on Novel Anticancer Drugs from Natural Origin: A Comprehensive Review

Cancer occurs when alterations of genetic material create an abnormal function leading to unregulated proliferation of cells in the body. Cancer remains as one of the most predominant illnesses causing death, where each year more than 10 million people are identified worldwide. Due to restrictions and side effects observed from various chemotherapeutic anti-cancer drugs, as well as thousands of secondary metabolites formed in plants and other natural organisms, there is a high trend, toward novel drug discovery from natural sources. It seems that high throughput screenings based on reverse pharmacology and reverse pharmacognosy might result in more successful approaches in the future. The main objective of this review is to exhibit an up-to-date comprehensive overview on the recently identified natural antitumor compounds from various natural origins including plants, fungi, endophytic fungi and marine organisms. In order to facilitate the anticancer drug discovery and development, new strategies might be considered such as biotechnology and nanoparticle targeting approaches. The reverse pharmacognosy and its complementary the reverse pharmacology which are associated with high throughput screening, virtual screening and knowledge databases from traditional medicine, provide successful and strong tools to accelerate, the process of future drug discovery.