Many lichen secondary metabolites exhibit cyto
toxic and antiviral prop
erties and could be
potential sources of pharmaceutically useful chemicals.
Human Papilloma Virus can cause cervical cancer
. Due to clinical experiments, the adjuvant
treatment with usnic acid and zi
nc sulphate after radiosurgery
promotes reepithelization and
reduces recurrence (S
CIRPA
et al. 1999). Usnic acid decreases
proliferation of human breast
cancer cells and human
lung cancer cells with
out any DNA damage (M
AYER
et al. 2005),
accordingly, it may represent a novel source for a natural non-genotoxic anticancer drug
(chemotherapeutic agent).