In-vitro Assessment of Essential Oils as Anticancer Therapeutic Agents: A Systematic Literature Review

Cancer is a fatal disease that causes around 9 million deaths annually in developing and developed countries worldwide. Recently, natural products as alternatives for chemical agents have become a growing area of interest. Essential oils (EOs) are secondary metabolites of the plant, with a wide range of bioactivities, such as the anticancer effect. The present systematic review attempts to collect and document the recent studies from 01.01.2016 to 12.31.2020, indicating EOs as anticancer agents in in-vitro studies; data of 144 reports have been extracted. Anticancer effects of 187 distinct EOs on 112 cell lines were summarized; this is a valuable bank for researchers finding proper EO as an anticancer agent. Some EOs having comparable effects with conventional drugs have been suggested. These EOs are good candidates for further studies, such as in-vivo investigations.