Background: Cancer is a major cause of mortality worldwide with increasing numbers by the years. In North Africa, the number of cancer patients is alarming. Also shocking is that a huge number of cancer patients only have access to traditional medicines due to several factors, e.g. economic difficulties. In fact, medicinal plants are widely used for the treatment of several pathologies, including cancer. Truthfully, herbalists and botanists in North African countries prescribe several plants for cancer treatment. Despite the popularity and the potential of medicinal plants for the treatment of cancer, scientific evidence on their anticancer effects are still scarce for most of the described plants. Objective: Bearing in mind the lack of comprehensive and systematic studies, the aim of this review is to give an overview of studies, namely ethnobotanical surveys and experimental evidence of anticancer effects regarding medicinal plants used in North Africa for cancer therapy Method: The research was conducted on several popular search engines including PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus and Web of Science. The research focused primarily on English written papers published between the years 2000 and 2016. Results: This review on plants traditionally used by herbalists in North Africa highlights that Morocco and Algeria are the countries with most surveys on the use of medicinal plants in folk medicine. Among the plethora of plants used, Nigella sativa and Trigonella foenum-graecum are the most referred ones by herbalists for the treatment of cancer. Moreover, a plethora of scientific evidence qualifies them as candidates for further drug development. Furthermore, we report on the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms. Conclusion: Overall, this review highlights the therapeutic potential of some medicinal plants as anticancer agents. The North African flora offers a rich source of medicinal plants for a wide array of diseases, including cancer. The elucidation of their modes of action represents an indispensable condition for the rational development of new drugs for cancer treatment. Furthermore, testing the anticancer activity in vivo and in clinical trials are warranted to explore the full therapeutic potential of North African plants for cancer therapy.

Flavonoids, a group of secondary metabolites widely distributed in the plant kingdom, have been acknowledged for their interesting medicinal properties. Among them, natural flavones, as well as some of their synthetic derivatives, have been shown to exhibit several biological activities, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, anti-allergic, neuroprotective, cardioprotective and antimicrobial. The antioxidant properties of flavones allow them to demonstrate potential application as preventive and attenuating agents in oxidative stress, i.e., a biological condition that is closely associated to aging process and several diseases. Some flavones interfere in distinct oxidative-stress related events by directly reducing the levels of intracellular free radicals (hydroxyl, superoxide and nitric oxide) and/or of reactive species (e.g. hydrogen peroxide, peroxynitrite and hypochlorous acid) thus preventing their amplification and the consequent damage of other biomolecules such as lipids, proteins and DNA. Flavones can also hinder the activity of central free radical-producing enzymes, such as xanthine oxidase and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase (NADPH-oxidase) or inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and can even modulate the intracellular levels of pro-oxidant and/or antioxidant enzymes. The evaluation of flavones antioxidant ability has been extensively determined in chemical or biological in vitro models, but in vivo therapy with individual flavones or with flavones-enriched extracts has also been reported. The present manuscript revises relevant studies focusing the preventive effects of flavones on stress-related diseases, namely the neurological and cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes and its associated complications.

Background: Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide that seriously affect patient’s life quality and are responsible for huge economic and social burdens. It is widely accepted that a plant-based diet may reduce the risk of CVDs by attenuating several risk factors and/or modulating disease’s onset and progression. Plants are rich in secondary metabolites, being terpenes the most abundant and structurally diverse group. These compounds have shown broad therapeutic potential as antimicrobial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory and antitumor agents. Despite their popularity, scientific evidence on terpenes cardiovascular effects remains sparse, limiting their potential use as cardioprotective and/or cardiotherapeutic agents. Objective: Bearing in mind the lack of comprehensive and systematic studies, the present review aims to gather the knowledge and some of the most scientific evidence accumulated over the past years on the effect of terpenes in the cardiovascular field with focus on CVDs namely ischemic heart disease, heart failure, arrhythmias and hypertension. Method: Several popular search engines including PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus and Google Scholar were consulted. The bibliographic research focused primarily on English written papers published over the last 15 years. Results: A systematic and comprehensive update on the cardiovascular effects of terpenes is provided. Moreover, whenever known, the possible mechanisms of action underlying the cardiovascular effects are pointed out as well as an attempt to identify the most relevant structure-activity relationships of the different classes of terpenes. Conclusion: Overall, this review enables a better understanding of the cardiovascular effects of terpenes thus paving the way towards future research in medicinal chemistry and rational drug design.