Background: Despite the newly treatment procedures, cancer is considered as the main health threat nowadays and, therefore, new therapeutic options such as traditional medicine should be investigated. Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) has been found to possess antitumor effects due to its major ingredients, including carnosic acid, carnosol, ursolic acid, and rosmarinic acid.
Objective: This study was designed to gather the recent literature findings from 2010 to 2016 on the cancer anti-tumor activities of carnosol and probably involved mechanisms.
Method: The online English papers were gathered through various search websites, including PubMed, Iran Medex, Medline, Google Scholar, and Scopus from 2010 to 2016.
Results: Carnosol, the specific composition of rosemary, has been shown to have beneficial effects in keeping humans healthy and may be acted as an antitumor agent.
Conclusion: This review revealed that carnosol may be effective as an anti-tumor agent in the different types of cancer by inducing apoptosis and inhibiting the cell cycle division. However, more studies are needed to confirm carnosol therapeutic effects in human.
Keywords: Carnosol; anti-tumor; apoptosis; cancer; carnosol; chemo-preventive; rosemary.
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