许多世纪以来，传统医学在医疗保健中发挥着重要作用。包括癌症在内的许多疾病的治疗都大大受益于传统医学的草药疗法。传统药物中的姜黄素、水飞蓟宾、小檗碱、人参等生物活性化合物在实验室中显示出广泛的特性，例如抗炎、抗菌、抗氧化以及有效的抗癌特性研究和动物实验（体外和体内）。在这篇综述中，我们主要强调了传统医学中存在的生物活性化合物的抗癌作用，例如姜黄素、小豆蔻苷、胡椒碱、小檗碱、人参、水飞蓟宾、表没食子儿茶素没食子酸酯和阿魏。我们还讨论了这些化合物在化学预防和抗癌作用中的分子证据。这些化合物有可能干扰癌症生长、增殖、转移和血管生成，并通过针对不同的途径和细胞周期诱导细胞凋亡。这篇综述文章还重点介绍了这些化合物如何帮助克服耐药性并提高其他临床批准药物的可用性。这些化合物与其他形式的治疗协同使用对于新的和即将进行的研究也很有吸引力。最后，我们讨论了这些化合物的生物利用度以及改进它们的策略，以便充分发挥它们的潜力。版权所有© Bentham Science Publishers；如有任何疑问，请发送电子邮件至 epub@benthamscience.net。

For many centuries, traditional medicine has played an essential role in health care. The treatment of many illnesses, including cancer, has greatly benefited from using herbal remedies derived from traditional medicine. The bioactive compounds, such as curcumin, silibinin, berberine, ginseng, and others present in traditional medicine have shown a wide range of properties, such as anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, anti-oxidant as well as potent anti-cancer properties both in laboratory studies and animal experiments (in vitro and in vivo). In this review, we mainly emphasized the anticancer role of bioactive compounds present in traditional medicine, such as curcumin, cardamonin, piperine, berberine, ginseng, silibinin, epigallocatechin gallate, and asafoetida. We also discussed molecular evidence of these compounds in chemoprevention and anticancer effects. These compounds have the potential to interfere with cancer growth, proliferation, metastasis, and angiogenesis and induce apoptosis by targeting different pathways and the cell cycle. This review article also focuses on how these compounds can help overcome drug resistance and enhance the availability of other clinically approved drugs. The usage of these compounds synergistically with other forms of treatment is also of great fascination to new and upcoming research. Finally, we have discussed the bioavailability of these compounds and strategies employed to improve them so their full potential can be exploited.Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.