Medicinal Plants Used as Antitumor Agents in Brazil: An Ethnobotanical Approach

Table 1

Species of medicinal plants cited as being antitumor by traditional and nontraditional communities in Brazil with their plant parts used, indication, occurrence, and pharmacological studies.

Family/species	Plant parts used	Indication	Pharmacological study/molecules evaluated	Occurrence (reference)
Amaranthaceae
Iresine herbstii Hook	Leaf	Cancer	—	2 [15, 16]
Anacardiaceae
Anacardium occidentale L.	Resin	Wart	In vitro, in vivo and clinical/Anacardic acid, polysaccharides, oligosaccharides, β-galactose, and proteins [17–20]	2 [21, 22]
Myracrodruon urundeuva Allemão	Bark	Tumors, neoplasias	—	2 [23, 24]
Annonaceae
Rollinia leptopetala R.E. Fr.	Bark	Tumors	—	2 [22, 25]
Rolliniopsis leptopetala (R.E. Fr.) Saff.	Bark	Tumors	—	1 [13]
Apocynaceae
Forsteronia refracta Müll. Arg.	Latex	Cancer	In vitro/SL0101 (a kaempferol glycoside) [26]	1 [27]
Hancornia speciosa Gomes	Latex	Cancer	In vitro [28]	1 [29]
Himatanthus articulatus (Vahl) Woodson	Latex	Tumors, cancer	—	1 [22]
Himatanthus bracteatus (A. DC.) Woodson	Latex	Tumors, cancer	—	1 [22]
Himatanthus obovatus (Müll. Arg.) Woodson	Latex	Cancer	In vitro [30]	1 [31]
Macrosiphonia velame (A. St.-Hil.) Müll. Arg.	Whole plant, root	Tumors	—	1 [31]
Arecaceae
Orbignya phalerata Mart.	Fruit	Leukemia	In vitro [32]	1 [22]
Asclepiadaceae
Marsdenia altissima (Jacq.) Dugand	Bark	Cancer	—	1 [22]
Asteraceae
Acanthospermum hispidum DC.	Leaf, flower, root	Cancer	In vitro and in vivo [33, 34]	2 [35, 36]
Aster squamatus (Spreng.) Hieron.	Aerial parts	Cancer	—	2 [15, 37]
Calendula officinalis L.	Whole plant	Cancer	In vitro and in vivo/calenduloside F 6′-O-n-butyl-ester and calenduloside G 6′-O-methyl ester [38]	1 [15]
Silybum marianum (L.) Gaertn.	—	Internal tumors	In vitro and in vivo/silybinin and silimarin [39, 40]	1 [16]
Bignoniaceae
Tabebuia impetiginosa (Mart. ex DC.) Standl.	Bark, flower, bast	Cancer and tumors	In vitro and in vivo/β-lapachone [41, 42]	6 [13, 22, 43–46]
Tecoma violacea	Bark	Cancer	—	1 [47]
Boraginaceae
Symphytum officinale L.	Leaf	Leukemia, cancer, mouth cancer, skin cancer	In vitro [48]	5 [23, 45, 46, 49, 50]
Caricaceae
Carica papaya L.	Flower, fruit, latex	Wart	In vitro/5,7-dimethoxycoumarin, Lycopene and Benzyl isothiocyanate [51–53]	2 [13, 54]
Caryocaraceae
Caryocar coriaceum Wittm.	—	Tumors	—	1 [55]
Cecropiaceae
Cecropia hololeuca Miq.	—	Cancerous wounds	—	1 [56]
Cecropia peltata L.	—	Cancerous wounds	—	1 [56]
Celastraceae
Maytenus ilicifolia (Schrad.) Planch.	Leaf, root	Cancer, skin cancer, tumors	In vitro/Pristimerin, 6-oxotingenol and Erythrodiol [57–59]	4 [16, 37, 60, 61]
Maytenus obtusifolia Mart.	Leaf	Cancer	—	1 [22]
Maytenus rigida Mart.	Bark	Cancer	—	1 [22]
Chenopodiaceae
Chenopodium ambrosioides L.	Stem, leaf, whole plant	Cancer	In vitro and in vivo/ascaridol [62, 63]	2 [13, 31]
Cochlospermaceae
Cochlospermum regium (Schrank) Pilg.	Root	Cancer	—	1 [31]
Crassulaceae
Cotyledon orbiculata L.	—	Cancer	—	1 [64]
Euphorbiaceae
Cnidoscolus obtusifolius Pohl ex Baill.	Leaf, flower	Cancer and tumors	—	3 [13, 35, 36]
Cnidoscolus phyllacanthus (Müll. Arg.) Pax & L. Hoffm.	Stem, bark, bast, látex, root	Wart	—	2 [13, 21]
Cnidoscolus urens (L.) Arthur	Root	Cancer	—	1 [23]
Croton antisyphiliticus Mart.	Leaf	Tumors	—	1 [65]
Croton urucurana Baill.	—	Cancer	—	1 [55]
Euphorbia phosphorea Mart.	Stem, latex	Wart	—	3 [13, 22, 47]
Euphorbia prostrata Aiton	Latex	Wart	—	3 [13, 22, 47]
Euphorbia tirucalli L.	Latex, aerial parts, leaf	Cancer and wart	—	6 [15, 16, 22, 64, 66, 67]
Manihot esculenta Crantz	Leaf, látex, root	Wart	In vitro/linamarin, esculentoic acids A and B [68, 69]	2 [13, 47]
Fabaceae
Anadenanthera colubrina (Vell.) Brenan	Stem, bark, bast, flower, leaf, fruit	Cancer	In vivo/acidic heteropolysaccharide [70]	1 [13]
Bauhinia forficata Link	Leaf	Cancer	In vitro/HY52 [71]	1 [60]
Copaifera langsdorffii Desf.	—	Tumors	In vitro/kaurenoic acid [72]	1 [55]
Copaifera multijuga Hayne	Oil of fruit	Cancer	In vitro and in vivo [73]	1 [22]
Copaifera reticulata Ducke	Whole plant	Cancer	—	1 [22]
Parapiptadenia rigida (Benth.) Brenan	—	Tumors	—	1 [50]
Senna occidentalis (L.) Link	Leaf, seed, root	Cancer	In vitro [74]	2 [13, 36]
Iridaceae
Eleutherine bulbosa (Mill.) Urb.	Leaf, bulb	Cancer	—	1 [67]
Lamiaceae
Leucas martinicensis (Jacq.) R. Br.	Leaf	Benign tumors	—	1 [75]
Lecythidaceae
Cariniana rubra Gardner ex Miers	Bark	Tumors (myoma)	—	1 [61]
Liliaceae
Aloe arborescens Mill.	Leaf	Cancer, prostate cancer	In vitro, in vivo and clinical/Aloin [76–78]	6 [15, 16, 64, 66, 79, 80]
Aloe soccotrina DC.	Leaf	Leukemia	—	2 [22, 81]
Aloe vera (L.) Burm. f.	Leaf, root, stem and sap	Cancer	In vitro and in vivo/aloe-emodin and aloctin I [82, 83]	8 [13, 16, 23, 31, 55, 60, 84, 85]
Lythraceae
Lafoensia pacari A. St.-Hil.	Bark	Cancer	—	1 [61]
Malvaceae
Abutilon grandifolium (Willd.) Sweet	Leaf	Cancer and myoma	—	2 [16, 79]
Myrcinaceae
Rapanea guianensis Aubl.	Branches with leaf	Tumors	In vitro/rapanone [86]	1 [87]
Rapanea umbellata (Mart.) Mez	Branches with leaf	Tumors	—	1 [87]
Myrtaceae
Myrciaria herbacea O. Berg	Root	Cancer	—	1 [31]
Nyctaginaceae
Boerhavia diffusa L.	Leaf, root	Leukemia	In vivo/punarnavine, boeravinones G and H [88, 89]	1 [31]
Guapira pernambucensis (Casar.) Lundell	Bark	Wart	—	1 [22]
Papaveraceae
Chelidonium majus L.	Latex	Wart	In vitro and in vivo/chelidonine, sanguinarine, chelerythrine, and nucleases (CMN1 and CMN2) [90–92]	1 [15]
Piperaceae
Ottonia leptostachya Kunth	Whole plant	Wart	—	1 [22]
Piper regnellii (Miq.) C. DC.	Leaf, aerial parts	Myoma	—	1 [37]
Plantaginaceae
Plantago australis Lam	Leaf, root, whole plant, and inflorescence	Tumors, cancer and prevent cancer	—	3 [37, 50, 79]
Plantago major L.	Leaf, root, whole plant and inflorescence	Prevent cancer	In vitro and in vivo [93, 94]	1 [79]
Plantago tomentosa Lam.	—	Cancer	—	2 [16, 37]
Plumbaginaceae
Plumbago scandens L.	Bark, leaf, root, whole plant	Wart	In vivo and in vitro/plumbagin [95, 96]	4 [13, 21, 22, 25]
Pteridaceae
Adiantum raddianum C. Presl	Aerial parts	Cancer	—	2 [37, 64]
Rubiaceae
Psychotria ipecacuanha (Brot.) Stokes	Whole plant	Cancer	In vitro and in vivo/emetine [97, 98]	1 [23]
Sapindaceae
Cardiospermum oliveirae Ferrucci	Stem, leaf, flower, aerial parts	Tumors	—	3 [13, 22, 36]
Serjania erecta Radlk.	Leaf, root	Cancer	—	1 [61]
Simaroubaceae
Simaba suffruticosa Engl.	Root	Cancer	—	1 [31]
Solanaceae
Capsicum frutescens L.	Leaf	Tumor	In vitro and in vivo/capsaicin [99, 100]	1 [60]
Solanum americanum Mill.	Leaf	Myoma	In vitro and in vivo/glycoprotein and solanine [101, 102]	1 [60]
Solanum paniculatum L.	Root, leaf, fruit	Internal tumors	—	1 [87]
Tiliaceae
Luehea paniculata Mart.	Bark, leaf	Tumors	—	1 [103]
Turneraceae
Turnera ulmifolia L.	Leaf, root, whole plant	Cancer	—	1 [13]
Verbenaceae
Stachytarpheta cayennensis (Rich.) Vahl	Leaf	Cancer	—	2 [37, 64]
Vitex triflora Vahl	Leaf, latex	Wart	—	2 [22, 104]
Violaceae
Viola odorata L.	—	Cancer	In vitro and in vivo/cycloviolacin O2 [105]	1 [64]
Vitaceae
Cissus coccinea (Baker) Mart. ex Planch.	Leaf, root	Wart	—	1 [22]
Cissus decidua Lombardi	Stem, leaf, flower, aerial parts	Cancer	—	3 [13, 22, 36]
Cissus duarteana Cambess.	Sap and root	Wart	—	1 [103]
Cissus erosa Rich.	Aerial parts	Wart	—	2 [21, 22]
Zingiberaceae
Costus spiralis (Jacq.) Roscoe	—	Prostate cancer	—	1 [84]