Interest and place of the plant Ephedra alata in the treatment of cancer

Abstract

Cancer is a dangerous disease and represents one of the biggest health-care issues of the human race, and therefore it requires a protective strategy for cure. Effectiveness of chemotherapy is often limited by serious side effects such as the toxicity of untargeted tissues. The use of herbal remedies to treat cancer may have a potential to offer more efficacy and less side effects. For that reason, the objective of this review was to validate especially the anticancer proprieties of the plant Ephedra alata. The results of several recent studies indicated that the use of this plant in anti-cancer therapy is very promising. Moreover, the combination of E.alata with cisplatin showed a synergic antiproliferative and pro-apoptotic action, and induces a strong decrease of the side effect of cisplatin