Biotecnologia e biodiversidade: as florestas brasileiras como fonte de novos fármacos com propriedades antitumorais

Abstract

Cancer main feature is the abnormal, diffuse and uncontroled cell growth. It is the major cause of mortality all over the world and, in this context, every day the number of papers reporting the importance of screening pharmacologically active molecules derived from plants increases. Therefore, in this paper we present a literature review on the importance of plants as source of natural products, active in combating and treating cancer as well as cultivation techniques of tumor cells used in this screening process.