Screening Some Plants for their Antiproliferative Compounds

This paper covers the screening of the secondary plant products to find a cure against cancer which were piled up during the years. In early stages of these studies highly active antitumor glycoproteins were obtained from native Arizona (USA) plants. Later smaller molecules were isolated showing antitumor activity in different test systems. Among these compounds sesquiterpene lactones with an exo-methylene group in the lactone ring, unsaturated diterpenoids and some triterpenoids exhibited activity in vivo and in vitro test systems. A few Colchicum alkaloids showed high activity against murine lymphocytic leukemia (P388). Activity also established in some flavonoidal compounds. Today all around the world research on Natural Products is still going on.