Anticancer activities

Plants have been used as medicines for thousands of years. They have always been used as a rich source of biologically active drugs. According to WHO (World Health Organization) report, about 80% of the population, mostly in developing countries still depends on traditional medicinal system for their primary health care. The present investigation is focused on the phytochemical investigation of abutilon indicum species for anticancer activity. The Abutilon L. genus of the Malvaceae family comprises about 150 annual or perennial herbs, shrubs or even small trees widely distributed in the tropical and subtropical countries. The aqueous extract of the A. indicum L. showed significant cytotoxic activity against both the selected cancer cell lines viz. human breast cancer cell line MCF 7 and human lung cancer cell line A 549.