Mahdi Vejdani Nozar,1,*Negin Vejdani Nozar,2
1. Shahid Alireza Hajibabaee High School, Hamedan, Iran 2. Hamedan university of medical sciences, Hamedan, Iran
Introduction: Cancer is one of the life-threatening diseases which creates major problem in both the developing and developed countries. Demand for new methods to prevent this disease is growing increasingly. Plants have always been a basis for the traditional medicine systems and they have provided continuous remedies to the mankind for thousands of years. Medicinal plants are considered as a repository of various bioactive compounds and used for long time due to its therapeutic properties. Plant derived product has benefits over synthetic medicine which increased the utilization of medicinal plants in the healthcare sector as several plants’ derived compounds show potential role against cancer treatment. Thymus vulgaris (Thyme), which is a medicinal plant, has pharmacological activities that include antibacterial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiviral and anti-cancerous activities.
Methods: We searched the keywords "Thymus vulgaris and Cancer" and "Thyme and Cancer" on PubMed and Google Scholar databases and collected articles related to these topics and after reading them, we wrote this review article.
Results: Several researches have been conducted on the effect of Thymus vulgaris (Thyme) on various cancers, including colorectal, breast, lung, head and neck cancer, etc. By studying the effect of this plant on cancers, researchers reached remarkable results.
Conclusion: According to the research done, it can be said that Thymus vulgaris (Thyme) has an effect on various cancers and is also known as an anti-cancer plant.