Zingiberaceae as the family of potential anti-cancer plants

Abstract

The increasing number of cancer patients worldwide has encouraged developing effective and affordable anticancer drugs due to the limitations and drawbacks of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The exploration of potential medicinal plants constitutes a common alternative for cancer treatment in many countries around the world as it is a rich source of bioactive compounds. Zingiberaceae is one of the most explored families for anticancer herbal medicine identification and characterization. The common genera in the family which have the anticancer properties are Ginger, Curcuma, Hedychium, Boesenbergia, Alpinia, Etlingera, Kaempferia, Globba, Amomum and Elettaria.