Anticancer potential of Ferula assa-foetida and its constituents, a powerful plant for cancer therapy

Abstract

Cancer is one of the main challenges of the health system around the world. This disease is increasing in developing countries and imposes heavy costs on patients and governments. On the other hand, despite various drugs, the death rate among cancer patients is still high and the current treatments have many harmful effects. In the traditional medicine of different countries, there are many medicinal plants that can be effective in the treatment of cancer. Ferula plants are traditionally used as spices and food or for medicinal purposes. Ferula assa-foetida is one of the famous plants of this genus, which has been used for the treatment of various diseases since ancient times. Among the main compounds of this plant, we can mention monoterpenes, sulfide compounds and polyphenols, which can show different therapeutic effects. This article has been compiled with the aim of collecting evidence and articles related to the anti-cancer effects of extracts, derived compounds, essential oils and nanoparticles containing Ferula assa-foetida. This review article was prepared by searching the terms Ferula assa-foetida and cancer, and relevant information was collected through searching electronic databases such as ISI Web of Knowledge, PubMed, and Google Scholar. Fortunately, the results of this review showed that relatively comprehensive studies have been conducted in this field and shown that Ferula assa-foetida can be very promising in the treatment of cancer.

Keywords: Ferula assa-foetida; Anticancer; Essential oil; Isolated components; Nano particle; Extract

Core Tip: Finding new anti-cancer compounds is an important necessity in the treatment or prevention of this disease. Ferula assa-foetida has useful compounds for the prevention and treatment of cancer, which can be used in making new compounds. These compounds include sulphide compounds, flavonoids and terpene coumarins, which with new methods such as making emulsions and nanoparticles from these compounds can be of great help in reducing the costs of cancer patients and their life expectancy.