Anticancer Plants in Islamic Traditional Medicine

Islamic Traditional Medicine (ITM) is a holistic and comprehensive medical school that has antecedents over 12 centuries ago. In ITM, cancer was a known disease with many options for treatment. Razi (Razhes; 865-925 AD), Ahwazi (Haly Abbas; 930-994 AD), Avicenna (980-1037AD), Jorjani (1042-1136 AD), and Aqili Khorasani (18th century) are among eminent physicians who discussed different types of cancers and their management in their books. They used a large number of plant species for treatment of different tumors. Although modern medicine has made tremendous advances in cancer control, the effectiveness of its therapeutic approach is often limited by toxic effects on other organs. Moreover, a large number of people in the world have limited or no access to cancer treatment services. Accordingly, benefiting from traditional medicine schools and effective natural medicines to prevent and control cancer would be valuable. In addition, using the teachings of such schools can lead to the discovery of new bioactive compounds and therapeutic methods. In this chapter, a brief history of Islamic medicine and its approach to treat cancer as well as anticancer medicinal plants have been discussed. Out of 107 ITM suggested plant species, 59 plants or their chemical compounds have proven to possess cytotoxic and antitumor activities using pharmacological investigations. These findings show the profound insight of ITM physicians into cancer treatment.