癌症是严重威胁人类健康的顽疾，致死率高。现代医学中常用的治疗癌症的放化疗方法毒副作用大，而抗癌植物精油具有多靶点、多效应、不良反应低、不易产生耐药性及提高机体免疫力等优势，在癌症治疗中得到高度重视。对植物精油的主要活性成分及其抗癌机制进行综述。已有研究报道中有抗癌活性的精油主要包括柠檬香茅、鼠尾草、泽兰蒿、薰衣草、野芹菜、橘皮、杨梅叶等19种植物精油，其中柠檬烯、β-榄香烯、薄荷醇、广藿香醇、百里酚、丁香酚、柠檬醛、β-石竹烯及其氧化物等成分可能是抗癌精油主要功效成分。

Cancer is a serious threat to human health with a high fatality rate. Modern anticancer methods, including surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, commonly have more serious side effects. Anticancer plant essential oils which now attach great importance to cancer treatment, have many advantages such as multi-target, multi-effect, low adverse reaction, improving the body immunity, not easy to produce drug resistance, etc. The main active ingredients and the anticancer mechanism of essential oils were reviewed in this paper. Nineteen kinds of plant essential oils, including Cymbopogon flexuosus, Salvia officinalis, Lycopus lucidus, Lavandula angustifolia, Smyrnium olusatrum, peel of Citrus reticulate, leaves of Myrica rubra, and so on, displayed their prominent anti-cancer activities. Specifically, limonene, β-elemene, menthol, patchouli alcohol, thymol, eugenol, citral, β-caryophyllene, and their oxide may be the main anticancer composition of plant essential oils.

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