Traditional and complementary medicine constitutes an important, and often underestimated, source of healthcare for multiple diseases including cancer. However, little is known about the ethnomedical knowledge and practices in Northern Africa. The main objective of this study is to identify and analyze the variety of natural products used in Algerian ethnopharmacology for cancer therapy. For this purpose, semi-structured interviews with 225 traditional healers, herbalists and practitioners were realized in twelve locations in Algeria throughout field studies performed from June 2015 to July 2019. Interviews covered popular and vernacular names of the natural product, mode of use and administration, dose, period of treatment, toxicity and side effects among other data. The obtained results reveal the use of 113 medicinal plants (belonging to 53 families and 104 genera), 10 animal species and various products and by-products from different origins such as honey, olive oil, thorns, urine, milk, animal fat and the alkaline water of Zamzam. Basing on the frequency of citation (FC), use reports (UR) and use value (UV), the most used natural products for cancer treatment are honey (FC = 181, UR = 194, UV = 0.65), Nigella sativa L. (FC = 131, UR = 152, UV = 0.54), Aristolochia longa L. (FC = 118, UR = 144, UV = 0.51), Berberis vulgaris L. (FC = 111, UR = 142, UV = 0.51), Curcuma longa L. (FC = 107, UR = 121, UV = 0.43), Trigonella foenum-graecum L. (FC = 102; UR = 119, UV = 0.43), Citrus limon (L.) Obseck (FC = 97, UR = 120, UV = 0.43), Artemisia herba-alba Asso (FC = 92, UR = 115, UV = 0.41) and the holy water ‘Zamzam’ (FC = 110, UR = 110, UV = 0.43) respectively. Mixtures of two or more ingredients were frequently used. The use of Pelophylax saharicus skin’ was reported for the first time for the treatment of visible tumors and skin cancer. This is the first study documenting the traditional uses of various natural products for cancer treatment in Algeria. Our findings are relevant to document the traditional uses of numerous natural products and to provide background basis to search for novel compounds for cancer therapy.

传统和补充医学是包括癌症在内的多种疾病的重要但常常被低估的医疗保健来源。然而，人们对北非的民族医学知识和实践知之甚少。本研究的主要目的是识别和分析阿尔及利亚民族药理学中用于癌症治疗的各种天然产物。为此，我们在 2015 年 6 月至 2019 年 7 月期间进行的实地研究中，对阿尔及利亚 12 个地点的 225 名传统治疗师、草药师和从业者进行了半结构化访谈。访谈涵盖了天然产品的通俗和白话名称、使用方式和管理方式、剂量、治疗周期、毒性和副作用等数据。获得的结果揭示了 113 种药用植物（属于 53 科 104 属）、10 种动物以及来自不同来源的各种产品和副产品，如蜂蜜、橄榄油、荆棘、尿液、牛奶、动物脂肪和渗渗泉的碱性水。根据引用频率（FC）、使用报告（UR）和使用价值（UV），最常用于癌症治疗的天然产品是蜂蜜（FC = 181，UR = 194，UV = 0.65）、Nigella sativa L. （FC = 131，UR = 152，UV = 0.54），马兜铃（FC = 118，UR = 144，UV = 0.51），小檗（FC = 111，UR = 142，UV = 0.51），Curcuma longa L.（FC = 107，UR = 121，UV = 0.43），Trigonella foenum - graecum L.（FC = 102；UR = 119，UV = 0.43），Citrus limon（L.）Obseck（FC = 97， UR = 120，UV = 0.43），艾草阿索（FC = 92，UR = 115，UV = 0.41）和圣水'Zamzam'（FC = 110，UR = 110，UV = 0.43）。经常使用两种或多种成分的混合物。首次报道使用撒哈里皮罗皮菌皮肤来治疗可见肿瘤和皮肤癌。这是第一项记录阿尔及利亚各种天然产品用于癌症治疗的传统用途的研究。我们的研究结果与记录众多天然产品的传统用途相关，并为寻找用于癌症治疗的新型化合物提供背景基础。