Biba Veerabhadran Sobhana

Traditional medicines have been recently recognized as a precise and knowledge for new source of anticancer drugs and new chemotherapy adjuvant to enhance the efficacy of chemotherapy and to ameliorate the side effects of cancer chemotherapies however their healing mechanisms are still largely unknown. The current available methods of treatment like chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery can induce certain side effects, so there is urge for alternate or adjuvant therapies has arisen. The natural compounds present in plants were known to inhibit or kills carcinogenic cells. In the race for the designing of new anti-cancer drugs development the phytochemical investigation of herbs has contribute new ideas in some extent. Apoptosis is the programmed cell death in which the cells activate an intracellular death program and kill themselves in a controlled way. The phytochemicals that have the anticancer property by inducing apoptosis are safe, abundantly available from dietary sources and the drugs have good immunomodulatory properties.  This attempt has been made to review plant and plant products used in the prevention and treatment of cancer by inducing apoptosis.