Facultad de Química Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, D.F., Mexico.
J Ethnopharmacol. 2011 Feb 16;133(3):945-72. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2010.11.055. Epub 2010 Dec 10.
This review provides a summary of Mexican medicinal flora in terms of ethnobotanical, pharmacology, and chemistry of natural products related to anticancer activity.
Bibliographic investigation was carried out by analyzing recognized books and peer-reviewed papers, consulting worldwide accepted scientific databases from the last five decades. Mexican plants with attributed anti-cancer properties were classified into six groups: (a) plant extracts that have been evaluated for cytotoxic effects, (b) plant extracts that have documented anti-tumoral effects, (c) plants with active compounds tested on cancer cell lines, (d) plants with novel active compounds found only in Mexican species, (e) plants with active compounds that have been assayed on animal models and (f) plants with anti-cancer ethnopharmacological references but without scientific studies.
Three hundred plant species belonging to 90 botanical families used for cancer treatment have been recorded, of which only 181 have been experimentally analyzed. The remaining 119 plant species are in use in empirical treatment of diseases consistent with cancer symptomatology. Only 88 of the plant extracts experimentally studied in in vitro cellular models have demonstrated active cytotoxic effects in at least one cancer cell line, and 14 out of the 88 have also been tested in vivo with the results that one of them demonstrated anti-neoplasic effects. A total of 187 compounds, belonging to 19 types of plant secondary metabolites, have been isolated from 51 plant extracts with active cytotoxic effects, but only 77 of these compounds (41%) have demonstrated cytoxicity. Seventeen of these active principles have not been reported in other plant species. However, only 5 compounds have been evaluated in vivo, and 3 of them could be considered as active.
Clearly, this review indicates that it is time to increase the number of experimental studies and to begin to conduct clinical trials with those Mexican plants and its active compounds selected by in vitro and in vivo activities. Also, the mechanisms of action by which plant extracts and their active compounds exert anti-cancer effects remain to be studied.
本综述从民族植物学、药理学和与抗癌活性相关的天然产物化学的角度，对墨西哥药用植物群进行了总结。
通过分析公认的书籍和同行评议的论文，以及查阅过去五十年中全球公认的科学数据库，进行文献调查。具有抗癌特性的墨西哥植物被分为六组：（a）已评估细胞毒性的植物提取物，（b）具有抗肿瘤作用的植物提取物，（c）在癌细胞系中测试活性化合物的植物，（d）仅在墨西哥物种中发现的新型活性化合物的植物，（e）在动物模型中测试过活性化合物的植物，（f）具有抗癌民族药理学参考文献但没有科学研究的植物。
记录了 300 种属于 90 个植物科的用于癌症治疗的植物物种，其中只有 181 种进行了实验分析。其余 119 种植物在经验性治疗与癌症症状一致的疾病中使用。在体外细胞模型中进行实验研究的 88 种植物提取物中，只有 88 种在至少一种癌细胞系中表现出活性细胞毒性作用，其中 14 种在体内进行了测试，结果表明其中一种具有抗瘤作用。从具有活性细胞毒性的 51 种植物提取物中分离出了属于 19 种植物次生代谢物类型的 187 种化合物，但只有 77 种化合物（41%）表现出细胞毒性。其中 17 种活性成分在其他植物物种中尚未报道。然而，只有 5 种化合物在体内进行了评估，其中 3 种可被认为是活性化合物。
显然，这篇综述表明，现在是时候增加实验研究的数量，并开始对通过体外和体内活性选择的墨西哥植物及其活性化合物进行临床试验。此外，植物提取物及其活性化合物发挥抗癌作用的作用机制仍有待研究。
