Abstract
Botanicals obtained from nature are the major source of therapeutic
medicines for humans. Utilization of botanicals for a variety of diseases is not
mysterious, and a rapid increase in such therapeutic substances is observed due to their
efficacy and long-term safety. Cancer, as a leading cause of disease worldwide, piques
the interest of researchers seeking novel anticancer agents. Till date, the major share of
cancer medicines is occupied by natural products, and the drug discovery process is
rapidly going on. However, traditional anticancer drug discovery is time-consuming
and herculean. High-throughput screening (HTS) is a tool to make natural product
library screening easy and fast. The advancement of extraction, isolation, and structure
characterization of Phyto actives obtained from botanicals, provides a large number of
compounds for testing via HTS. High-density well plates, a liquid handling platform,
automation, and robotics allow the screening of 100,000 compounds per day.
Anticancer screening of botanicals by HTS can be performed on various cancer cell
lines along with molecular targets, enzyme or protein interaction assays, or the capacity
of the extract to induce apoptosis. After the replication of identified extracts, further
assays are performed for more precise results. HTS screening and computational
methods provide speed and a high degree of sensitivity for anticancer agents and
compress the time required for drug discovery. Advances in HTS technology, such as
ultra-HTS and the use of 3-D cultures, will speed up the process of discovering
anticancer drugs from botanicals. Advanced detection techniques for HTS assays, as
well as instrumental techniques for identified lead compound separation, help to ensure
that the results are neat.