Humankind has used a variety of spices to flavor food for centuries. However, the chemistry and potential health benefits of these herbs have become clearer only rather recently. Numerous studies performed during the past decades have revealed several advantageous properties of bioactive constituents of various spices, including their anticancer effects. This edited collection summarizes diverse types of anticancer activities of compounds derived from some well-known spices, describing the anticancer mechanisms behind their action and highlighting molecular targets and cellular signaling pathways. It acquaints the reader with the potential anticancer activities of agents contained in laurel, oregano, thyme, rosemary, basil, dill, parsley, and several other common spices. These molecular entities could probably be considered as lead structures for further design of more efficient anticancer drugs in the future.

Hardeep Singh Tuli is an associate professor at the Department of Biotechnology, Maharishi Markandeshwar (Deemed to be University), Mullana, India. His research interests focus on the isolation, characterization, and biochemical evaluation of natural metabolites as anticancer agents. He has served as a reviewer for several international journals and as a guest editor for Frontiers in Pharmacology. He has more than 10 years of teaching and research experience in pharmacology, mammalian physiology, and natural products. He has published more than 200 papers in peer-reviewed international journals and authored several book chapters. He has edited six international books in the area of cancer biology and chemoprevention. Dr Tuli is an editorial board member of several national and international scientific research journals and is also among the top 2% of highly cited researchers in pharmacology.