Vietnamese Medicinal Plants as Potential Resources to Explore New Anticancer and Anti-inflammation: Established...

Cancer is one of the most serious health problems in the world, which annually increases in incidence and mortality rates. Among therapies for cancer, chemical treatments are widespread. However, the benefit of these compounds remains limited due to high cytotoxicity, resistances, and non-selectivity. In addition to cancer, inflammation is also a common symptom and usually relates to other diseases such as infection and cancer. Therefore, investigation of new agents for anticancer and anti-inflammation is of high interest. The tropical climate of Vietnam makes it one of the most biodiversity-rich countries in the world, with a wide availability of traditional medicines and herbs for primary healthcare. However, most of utilization of Vietnamese medicinal plants is not evidence-based as few systematic studies of these have been performed. In this chapter, we present established anticancer and anti-inflammation assays for natural extract and compounds from a Vietnamese medicinal plant. In addition, the procedures of extraction, separation, and isolation of this plant are described.