The Effects of Herbs and Fruits on Leukaemia

Table 1

Major biological properties of herbs attributed to potential antileukaemic effect.

Herb names	Activity/uses	Human/animal subjects	Results	References
Hibiscus cannabinus (Kenaf)	Antioxidative Antileukaemic	WEHI-3B; HL-60; K562	Induced apoptosis in WEHI-3B, HL-60, and K562 cells	Warner et al., 1969 [30]; He and Na, 2001
Ginseng root	(i) Induce cell cycle; (ii) Arrest apoptosis; (iii) Effect on the MAPK signaling pathway	THP-1 acute monocytic cells	Inhibition of invasion and migration of THP-1 acute monocytic cells	Choi et al., 2011 [31]; Yan et al., 2013
Euphorbia formosana	Antileukaemic	THP-1 and leukaemic cell lines	(i) To treat leukaemia and other malignancies; (ii) Induces apoptosis in various leukaemic cell lines	Hsieh et al., 2013 [32]; Mijatovic et al., 2011 [29]
Allium sativum (garlic)	Antileukaemic	Leukaemic cell lines	Direct cytotoxic effect on cancer cells With a free radical activity	Abdullah et al., 1988 [33]
Moringa oleifera	(i) Antileukaemic; (ii) Antiproliferative	AML cell lines	Ethanolic extract killed most of the leukaemic cells	Eltayb et al., 2010 [34]
Vernonia amygdalina	Antiproliferative	AML & ALL cell lines	(i) Showing remarkable damage of lymphoblasts with plant extract in leukaemic cell; (ii) Inhibiting proliferation of some leukaemic cell lines	El-Shemy et al., 2007 [35]
Achillea fragrantissima	Hepatoprotective antileukaemic	CML cell line (K562)	(i) Cell cycle arrest; (ii) Apoptosis in CML cells	Tarawneh et al., 2010 [36]
Typhonium flagelliforme	(i) Therapeutic; (ii) Antiproliferative; (iii) Cytotoxic; (iv) Antileukaemic	CEMss; WEHI-3; P388	(i) Antileukaemic effect on mice model; (ii) In vitro cytotoxic effect of leaves and tubers of T. Flagelliforme extract against human T4-lymphoblastoid cell line CEM-ss	Mohan et al., 2010 [37]