The anticancer properties of phytochemical extracts from Salvia plants

Yuanyuan Jiang,1,2 Li Zhang,2 HP Vasantha Rupasinghe1,3 1Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Dalhousie University, Truro, NS, Canada; 2College of Science, Sichuan Agricultural University, Yaan, Sichuan, People's Republic of China; 3Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada Abstract: Salvia species have been used as traditional medicine in many countries for a long time for health benefits. More importantly, in recent decades, the extracts of Salvia species have been shown to exhibit significant anticancer effects in vitro and in vivo on a wide range of cancer types. Therefore, this review provides a systematic summary of the anticancer profile and the underlying mechanisms of the extracts from Salvia species, which reveals the potential of these species, especially Salvia miltiorrhiza and Salvia officinalis, to be used as natural anticancer agents or auxiliary agents and bring new insights for further research and development of the genus Salvia. Keywords: Salvia, chemoprevention, anticancer, phytochemicals, sage, Danshe