Natural products are reservoirs of biologically active compounds and have been widely explored for treating disease conditions since ancient times. The extracts from plants are rich in secondary metabolites such as flavonoids and exert diverse biological effects. Many drugs used today are of plant origin and many more are still under clinical trial. Cancer remains a fatal disease with a high annual mortality rate globally. Chemotherapy is a widely used treatment modality for cancer. Even though chemotherapeutic drugs eliminates fast-proliferating cancer cells, they can also affect normal cells causing adverse side effects. Interestingly, many plant compounds are reported to enhance immunity and improve sensitivity to chemotherapy and are used as a combination drug with the standard treatment procedure. However, the biological effects of the natural compounds might vary depending on the nature of the chemotherapeutic drugs or the type of cancer. Moreover, due to heterogeneity in natural products, proper standardization, optimization, and extraction of the natural compounds are essential to ensure the reproducibility of the treatment procedures for attaining a beneficial outcome.

In this special issue, we welcome both original research and review articles on the use of plant bioactive compounds and their effects in enhancing the efficacy and in reducing the side effects of chemotherapy. These may include but are not limited to the following:

• Additive or synergistic combination therapy with natural chemotherapy and their mechanism of action in different types of cancers.

• Co-supplementation of plant-based compounds and interaction with microbiota to reduce adverse effects of chemotherapeutic drugs.

• Natural supplements and their protective and adverse effects in cancer treatment/progression.

• Using nano-drug-co-delivery system (NDDS) of natural active ingredients and chemo drugs to facilitate a sequential drug delivery under specific stimuli to improve therapeutic effectiveness.

All the manuscripts submitted to the collection will need to fully comply with the Four Pillars of Best Practice in Ethnopharmacology (you can freely download more information on this here)

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Frontiers in Pharmacology

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