A REVIEW ON ANTI-CANCER POTENTIAL OF PHYTOCHEMICALS ISOLATED FROM SIMAROUBA GLAUCA

Cancer is a dreadful disease affecting humans of all age groups. The conventional method of treatment like chemotherapy, radiation therapy, surgery or hormone therapy use synthetic drugs which are both toxic with severe side effects and expensive. Focus is now on phytochemicals derived from plants which are much less toxic and cost effective. Simarouba glauca also known as “Paradise Tree” or “Laxmitaru” is an evergreen tree belonging to the family Simaroubaceae. The extracts isolated from S.glauca possess many pharmacological and medicinal properties and are being used to cure a number of ailments the world over since time immemorial. The extracts are used for treating acute dysentery, fever, malaria, colitis as a vermifuge, antimicrobial, heamostatic skin moisturizer and emmenagogue. The tree is a rich source of quassinoids which include ailanthinone, canthin, dehydroglaucarubinone, glaucarubine, glaucarubolone, glaucarubinone, holacanthone, melianone, simaroubidin, simarolide, simarubin, simarubolide. The anti-cancer activity of these quassinoids on various human cancer cell lines is well established through research. This article is a review of the anti-cancer activity of S.glauca collected by scrutinizing a number of papers dedicated to the said topic. Keywords: Antimicrobial, Anti-Cancer , Cell lines , Glaucarubine, Quassinoids