Traditional Uses and Anticancer Potential of the Combretum Genus: A Literature Review

Background: Cancer incidence is increasing annually in all countries. So, it is nowadays a great burden for the different nations of the world. Research for new therapeutics is becoming an urgent need, particularly for intractable and chemoresistant cancer cases. The solutions can still be found by investigating natural products which are recognized as promising sources of bioactive compounds with a potential for the discovery of new preventive and therapeutic anticancer agents.

Methodology: The present work used databases such as Pubmed, Science Direct and Google scholar to investigate the ethnobotanical uses of some Combretum species in the literature. It also allowed us to summarize some pharmacological studies on Combretum species.

Results: This review gathers all available traditional uses and cytotoxicity studies of Combretum species in the literature. Special focus is given to pharmacological studies highlighting isolated potential anticancer molecules. These molecules present potent cytotoxic effect on various cancer cell lines and may contribute to improving the health of people suffering from various cancer diseases.

Conclusion: The Combretum species are widely used in folk medicine for the treatment of several pathologies including cancers. This study is of fundamental importance in highlighting Combretum species as a potential source for research of new anticancer compounds.