4. Terpenoid indole alkaloids
Alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, terpenes, polyphenols, fatty acids, and essential oils are of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Vinblastine, vinorelbine, vincristine, and vindesine are active ingredients of anticancer drugs, derived from alkaloid (Fig. 7A ).
Catharanthus belongs to the family Apocynaceae, producing terpenoid indole alkaloids (TIAs). It has eight species and had enormous pharmaceutical potential as only Catharanthus Roseus produces more than 130 different TIAs. Among them, vinblastine, vincristine, vinorelbine, vindesine, anhydrovinblastine, vinblastine, and vincristine are reported as effective anti-cancer agents (Jacobs et al., 2004). Other compounds, such as ajmalicine and serpentine, both monoterpene indole alkaloids are used as antihypertensive and anti-neuro-inflammatory, as well as vindolicine is used as an antidiabetic. Vinblastine and vincristine as powerful anticancer drugs, commonly known as vinca alkaloids, function as spindle inhibitors (Barrales-CureƱo et al., 2019) (Fig. 7B ).