Biotechnology and Production of Anti-Cancer Compounds

This book discusses cancers and the resurgence of public interest in plant-based and herbal drugs. It also describes ways of obtaining anti-cancer drugs from plants and improving their production using biotechnological techniques. It presents methods such as cell culture, shoot and root culture, hairy root culture, purification of plant raw materials, genetic engineering, optimization of culture conditions as well as metabolic engineering with examples of successes like taxol, shikonin, ingenol mebutate and podophylotoxin. In addition, it describes the applications and limitations of large-scale production of anti-cancer compounds using biotechnological means. Lastly, it discusses future economical and eco-friendly strategies for obtaining anti-cancer compounds using biotechnology. Front Matter....Pages i-xv Medicinal Plants: Ethno-Uses to Biotechnology Era....Pages 1-38 How Plants Can Contribute to the Supply of Anticancer Compounds....Pages 39-72 Cancer and Biotechnology: A Matchup that Should Never Slowdown....Pages 73-97 Plant-Derived Compounds with Anticancer Properties: From Folklore to Practice....Pages 99-119 Anticancer Drugs from Plants....Pages 121-142 Cambial Meristematic Cells: A Sustainable Platform for the Production of Plant-Derived Anticancer Drugs....Pages 143-156 Family Fabaceae: A Boon for Cancer Therapy....Pages 157-175 Small Cells for Big Ideas: The Cytotoxic Podophyllotoxin and the Long Journey in Discovering Its Biosynthetic Pathway....Pages 177-199 Hairy Root Culture for the Production of Useful Secondary Metabolites....Pages 201-230 Edible Mushrooms and Their In Vitro Culture as a Source of Anticancer Compounds....Pages 231-251 Genomics and Artificial Intelligence Working Together in Drug Discovery and Repositioning: The Advent of Adaptive Pharmacogenomics in Glioblastoma and Chronic Arterial Inflammation Therapies....Pages 253-281 A Multiscale Haemorheological Computer-Based Model of Chronic Inflammation: An In-Depth Investigation of Erythrocytes-Driven Flow Characteristics in Atheroma Development....Pages 283-320 Back Matter....Pages 321-328