Journal of Traditional Medicine & Clinical Naturopathy
Open Access

Abstract

Cancer is considered the leading cause of death for the population under the age of 85. Although there are several conventional treatment methods to treat cancer including, chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation, the improvement in mortality rates has been insignificant. In addition, it has been argued that conventional treatment might result in extreme exhaustion and deficiency of the immune system and consequently lead to other harmful side effects. Because of the increasing demand for new types of therapeutic interventions, there has been a growing interest in alternative and complementary medicine especially in herbal medicines, which has anticancer properties. Nigella sativa is one of the top ranked evidence based herbal medicine that is used throughout the world as a dietary supplement for treating several types of cancer and for enhancing the immune reactions. There is not much clinical research done with this important medicinal plant and a few evidences based reports were found in the scientific database that explains anticancer and immunomodulation properties of Nigella sativa. In this review, a total of 31 research reviews were collected from scientific databases to evaluate the anti-cancer and immunemodulatory effects of Nigella sativa and its main ingredient, Thymoquinone and to gain more perspective and stimulate additional research for developing effective and safe therapeutic supplement towards treating cancer and regulating immune reactions in cancer patients.

Biography