A Review of the Underexplored Genus, Hedychium Against Cancer
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Review Article The Ginger Prophecy; A Review of the Underexplored Genus, Hedychium against Cancer P. VERMA AND R. KUNDU* Centre of Advanced Study, Department of Botany, University of Calcutta, 35 Ballygunge Circular road, Kolkata-700 019, India Verma and Kundu: Anticancer Potential of Gingers Cancer, the seventh most fatal disease in the world, poses a long struggle to combat this deadly disease. Economically and pharmacologically important members of Zingiberaceae plant family have helped to eradicate a number of ailments worldwide. This review highlights gingers and their wide spectrum of medicinal values focusing on their role as anticancer agents with facts and data obtained from literature review performed using PubMed, PMC, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar in a systematic way. Among the many genera underlined in this review, several species of Hedychium have emerged as potential cancer treatments with remarkable activity against different forms of tumour. However this genus is not much explored to unravel its value to medical research. Several species have been found to have cytotoxic, antiinflammatory, antioxidant and antitumour activities but not many attempts made to establish the plant principles as anticancer agents. Key words: Natural products, cancer, chemoprevention, Zingiberaceae, Hedychium In the traditional medicine, plants have been used for cancer patients is enormous. The situation is much centuries to treat various diseases[1]. Natural products critical in economically challenged countries like from plants are also used in several therapeutic Africa due to the lack of education, infrastructure, formulations[2]. These compounds belong to different medicinal amenities, diagnostic services and high cost chemical classes (alkaloids, phenolics, flavonoids, of the treatments[7]. terpenoids) and have diverse complex chemical Natural plant products are under exploration to discover structures. Natural products contributed many drugs new chemical entities as anticancer agents which is also that are currently available in the market for the treatment of a number of diseases[3]. one of the breeding areas of research in the scientific field. Natural products are inexpensive, easily available, Cancer is a disease occurring at an alarming rate in mostly beneficial to human health, which makes their the last few decades throughout the world. It is a use more popular among the public generally but also multifactorial disease, which results in uncontrolled easily accessible for research and at most times prove to growth of cells and their invasion leads to the formation be better forms of alternative medicine. of tumour in the human body. There has been a steep rise in the number of cases where patients have Among the natural plant resources, Angiosperms are [8] been reported to be suffering from various kinds of a huge reservoir of products with medicinal values . cancers[4]. This may be attributed to the change in food One such plant family with significant pharmacological habits, excessive consumption of tobacco and alcohol, gravity is the family of gingers, the Zingiberaceae, chronic infections, exposure to harmful radiations and which consisted of annual or perennial herbs with [9] chemicals, industry waste/fumes or more widely due creeping horizontal or tuberous rhizomes . The to change in lifestyle and environmental pollution[5]. Cancer is among the leading causes of death worldwide. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License, which With figures obtained from GLOBOCAN 2018, there allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, has been 18.1 million cases of cancer incidence and as long as the author is credited and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms 9.6 million cases of human mortality occurred due to cancers reported worldwide[6]. The mortality rate of Accepted 06 November 2019 Revised 13 August 2019 *Address for correspondence Received 18 February 2019 E-mail: [email protected] Indian J Pharm Sci 2019;82(1):11-20 January-February 2020 Indian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences 11 www.ijpsonline.com family comprises of 50 genera and about 1500 species genera of gingers, which also makes them economically distributed throughout tropical Asia[10]. The gingers cardinal, their uses have been compiled and represented mostly need shady, humid environments with timely in Table 1[15-44]. water showers for proper growth. Apart from the broad range of pharmacological The plant family Zingiberaceae is a paramount natural activities possessed by the different ginger genera, many resource that provides many useful products for food, members are reported to have important anticancer spices, medicines, dyes, perfume and aesthetics[11]. It activities[45]. Gingers besides being commonly used as constitutes a family of rhizomatous, aromatic medicinal spices and flavouring agents by local people worldwide, plants characterised by the presence of volatile oils they are an essential and frequently available source of and oleoresins[12]. The plants are widely distributed antiinflammatory constituents, which can be utilised to mostly in tropical and subtropical regions of Asia combat various forms of cancer or so as to prevent its especially Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, India as well occurrence[46,47]. These gingers could play an essential as in America and Australia[13]. Curcuma, Kaempferia, role in developing anticancer drugs. The attempt of Hedychium, Amomum, Zingiber, Alpinia, Elettaria making use of edible ginger forms to prevent or treat and Costus are some of the economically important cancer accounts to its contribution to chemoprevention. genera of Zingiberaceae. These are all well known for Table 2[48-72] is a compilation of common gingers and their traditional medicinal uses[12]. reported anticancer activity. The various disadvantages The rhizomes of the plants of this family are of chemotherapy, which involves treatment of cancers predominantly aromatic, analeptic and stimulant. with standard chemical therapeutic drugs include They are rich sources of essential oils that consist several side effects like nausea, loss of appetite, hair [73] of numerous complex terpenoid mixtures. Many loss, anaemia and vomiting . Other than these, terpenoid compounds with varied physiological treatment at high cost, longer time span and the pain activities, antimicrobial, antiarthritic, antioxidant, the patient suffers post treatment are also a matter of anticancer, antiinflammatory, antidiabetic, antiHIV and concern. Chemotherapy is usually clubbed with surgery neuroprotectives have been identified in the essential and radiation therapy. In addition to that, targeted oils of ginger plants[14]. Considering the wide range of therapy[74], neoadjuvant therapy[75], immunotherapy[76], pharmacological activities possessed by the various treatment with herbal medicines and natural sources TABLE 1: GINGERS WITH PHARMACOLOGICAL AND ECONOMICAL IMPORTANCE[15-44] Botanical name (common name) Parts used Bioactivity Alpinia galanga (Linn.) Willd. (greater galangal/ Antiinflammatory[15], antiallergic[16], gastroprotective[17], Rhizome blue ginger) cytotoxic[18], neuroprotective effect[19] Tender shoot Alpinia nigra BURTT. Fluckicidal[20], antimycobacterial[21] and rhizome Amomum aromaticum Roxb. (Bengal cardamom) Seeds Antimycobacterial[21], antileishmanial[22] Treatment of cardiovascular diseases[23], Amomum subulatum Roxb. (black cardamom) Pods hepatoprotective[24] Cholesterol lowering activity[25], antioxidant and Curcuma amada Roxb.(mango ginger) Rhizome antibacterial[26] , antitubercular[27] Antiinflammatory[28], antioxidant[29], antifungal[30], Curcuma longa L. (turmeric) Rhizome antitumour[31], antidepressant[32], antiviral effect[33], treatment of cardiovascular diseases[23] Antiinflammatory[34], anticancer activity [35], Curcuma zedoaria Rosc. (Zedoary) Rhizome antiangiogenic effect[36] Elettaria cardamomum (Green/true Seeds and Antispasmodic[36] cardamomum) pods Kaempferia galanga L. (sand ginger/resurrection Leaves and Vasorelaxant[37], larvicidal activity[38] lily) rhizomes Leaves and Kaempferia rotunda L.(Bhumichampa) Insecticidal[39] rhizomes Antioxidant[40], treatment of cardiovascular diseases[23], Zingiber officinale Rosc. (garden ginger) Rhizome antiobesity[41], anticancer[42], antinausea/vomiting[43] Anticancer, antiinflammatory, antiHIV, antiAlzheimer's Zingiber zerumbet Smith. (bitter ginger) Rhizome disease, multipotential bioactivities[44], antileishmanial[22] 12 Indian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences January-February 2020 www.ijpsonline.com TABLE 2: COMMON GINGERS AND THEIR ANTICANCER ROLES[48-72] Anticancer agent Plant source Cancer cell line(s) tested/cancer type Acetoxyeugenol acetate, acetoxychavicol Alpinia galanga (rhizome) HeLa, A549, HepG2, SMMC-7721[48] acetate, isocoronarin D, caryolane Galangin Alpinia officinarum (rhizome) B16[49] HL-60[50] HepG2[51], HepG2, BEL-7402, Yakuchinones A and B Alpinia oxyphylla SMMC-7721, Hep3B[52] Volatile oils Alpinia officinarum A549[53] Caffeic acid, apigenin, curcumin, pinnocambrin Alpinia pricei (rhizome) CH 27, HL 60, A 549[54] Prostate cancer, MCF 7, MDA MB 231, Curcumin Curcuma sp (rhizome) BT474, Pancreatic, Colorectal, Daltons lymphoma cells[55,56] Isocurcumenol Curcuma zedoaria (rhizome) A549, KB, K562[57] Curcumin Curcuma zedoaria (rhizome) CORL 23, PC3[58] - - Curcuma amada (rhizome) MCF 7, HBL 100, MDA MB 231[59] Curcumol Curcuma