Radiation Oncology/Drugs/Ethnopharmacologic therapeutic agent/Catharanthus roseus
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- Catharanthus roseus, commonly known as bright eyes, Cape periwinkle, graveyard plant, Madagascar periwinkle, old maid, pink periwinkle, rose periwinkle, is a species of flowering plant in the family Apocynaceae
- It is native and endemic to Madagascar, but grown elsewhere as an ornamental and medicinal plant, a source of the drugs vincristine and vinblastine, used to treat cancer
- The species has long been cultivated for herbal medicine
- In Ayurveda (Indian traditional medicine) the extracts of its roots and shoots, though poisonous, are used against several diseases
- In traditional Chinese medicine, extracts from it have been used against numerous diseases, including diabetes, malaria, and Hodgkin's lymphoma
- Many of the vinca alkaloids were first isolated from Catharanthus roseus, including vinblastine and vincristine used in the treatment of leukemia and Hodgkin's lymphoma