Background: Cancer is the leading cause of death worldwide and the current mode of cancer treatment causes side effects on normal cells and are still the key challenges in its’ treatment. However, natural products or active compounds of medicinal plants have shown to be safe, affordable, and effective in diseases cure.

Methods: In this context, scientific studies evidence the health-promoting effects of natural products, which work through its anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer activity. Thymoquinone (TM), a predominant active compound of Nigella sativa, has confirmed anti-neoplastic activity through its ability to regulate various genetic pathways. In addition, thymoquinone has established anti-cancerous effects through killing of various cancerous cells,and inhibiting the initiation, migration, invasion, and progression of the cancer. The anti-cancer effects of TM are chiefly mediated via regulating various cell signaling pathways such as VEGF, bcl2/bax ratio, p53, NF-kB, and oncogenes.

Results: The anti-cancer drugs have limitations in efficacy and also causes adverse side effects on normal cells. The combination of anti-cancer drugs and thymoquinone improves the efficacy of drugs which is evident by decrease resistance to drugs and regulation of various cell signaling pathways. Moreover, combination of anti-cancer drugs as well as thymoquinone shows synergistic effect on killing of cancer cells and cells viability. Thus, TM, in combination with anti-cancer drugs, can be a good strategy in the management of various types of cancer.

Conclusion: In this review article, we deliver an outline of thymoquinone role in cancer inhibition and prevention of cancer-based on in vivo and in vitro studies. Further studies on thymoquinone based on clinical trials are highly required to explore the benefits of thymoquinone in cancer management.

背景：癌症是世界范围内主要的死亡原因，目前的癌症治疗方式会对正常细胞产生副作用，并且仍然是其治疗的主要挑战。然而，已证明药用植物的天然产物或活性化合物在治疗疾病方面是安全的，负担得起的并且有效的。

方法：在这种情况下，科学研究证明了天然产物具有促进健康的作用，其天然产物具有抗氧化，抗炎和抗癌作用。百里香（Nigella sativa）的主要活性化合物胸腺醌（TM）已通过调节多种遗传途径的能力证实具有抗肿瘤活性。另外，胸腺醌通过杀死各种癌细胞并抑制癌症的发生，迁移，侵袭和发展而建立了抗癌作用。TM的抗癌作用主要是通过调节各种细胞信号通路，例如VEGF，bcl2 / bax比，p53，NF-kB和癌基因介导的。

结果：该抗癌药疗效有限，还会对正常细胞产生不良副作用。抗癌药和胸腺醌的组合提高了药物的效力，这通过降低对药物的抵抗力和调节各种细胞信号传导途径来证明。而且，抗癌药和胸腺醌的组合对杀死癌细胞和细胞活力显示出协同作用。因此，TM与抗癌药联合使用可能是治疗各种类型癌症的好策略。

结论：在这篇综述文章中，我们基于体内和体外研究概述了胸腺醌在抑制癌症和预防癌症中的作用。迫切需要基于临床试验对胸腺醌进行进一步研究，以探索胸腺醌在癌症治疗中的益处。