Efficacy of promising flavonoids from Festuca, Lonicera, and Acacia genera against glioblastoma multiforme: potential for the Dandenong Ranges

For thousands of years, medicine has been derived from plant materials, with this source of therapeutics still being as relevant in the current age. Modern medicine investigates a myriad of plant sources for new therapeutics against a variety of diseases which lack effective therapies, such as glioblastoma multiforme, the most lethal brain cancer. As plants abound in beneficial polyphenolic compounds, most prevalent being flavonoids, researchers are becoming increasingly interested in the effects of these molecules against glioblastoma multiforme. Furthermore, much of the world’s flora lacks critical investigation into therapeutics they possess and effectively against diseases. The plants of the Dandenong Ranges, Australia located amidst the suburban sprawl of Melbourne to the best of our knowledge have potential anticancer bioactive compounds which have never been tested against glioblastoma multiforme. This review focuses upon the beneficial molecules, specifically flavonoids such as resveratrol, quercetin, and luteolin, known to be contained within the genera of three plant species found within the Dandenong Ranges, Festuca asperula, Lonicera japonica, and Acacia leprosa. While the entirety of the information within this review will be drawn from studies of plant species which share the genera of these three plants, often being foreign species, this review highlights the potential of the plants from the Dandenong Ranges for medicinal investigation.