Essential Oils from Aromatic Plants in Cancer Prevention and Treatment

Food and other industries recently focused on natural additives rather than synthetic due to health hazards, therefore essential oils (EOs) are one of the most important alternatives under study which are abundantly and easily extractable natural safe oils used worldwide. EOs are natural, volatiles and aromatic liquids extracted from special plants. Their biological properties include antioxidant, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activities. Recently, available studies indicate their anticancer potential. As a summary, EOs and their constituents act as antiproliferative agent on cancer cells by multiple mechanisms involving apoptosis induction and cell cycle arrest, oxidative stress induction, mitochondrial function impairment and different pathways and gene expression modulation, as well as, changes in some hormonal levels and immunomodulatory effects.