**1. Introduction**

Cancer is a growing economic burden worldwide. The Globocan 2018 database estimates 18.1 million new cancer cases and 9.6 million cancer-related deaths [1]. This frightening and dreadful statistic has motivated the hunt for e fficacious anticancer agents. Current therapeutic modalities in cancer, including surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy have shown to be associated with significant morbidity [2]. Thus, there is much interest shown in the advent of alternative therapeutics including medicinal plants. Although several studies have explored the therapeutic benefits of natural plant-based products, there is a relative deficit in the number of systematic reviews available, especially with respect to plants present in remote areas such as the *Tinospora* genus. In the *Tinospora genus*, only *Tinospora cordifolia (Tc)*, has shown to exhibit anti-carcinogenic properties. Thus, *Tc* was selected as the subject of the review. *Tc* belongs to Menispermaceae family (universally named as "Guduchi"/ Giloy in Sanskrit). It is a deciduous climbing shrub with typical greenish-yellow flowers, found at higher altitudes like India, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. *Tc* has shown to exhibit several unique features, distinguishing them from other closely related species in the *Tinospora* genus, including *Tinospora malabarica* (*Tm*). *Tc* has an ash-colored cork, higher lenticels, nodes and internode, and a lower mucilage content than *Tm*. A variety of active components are derived from *Tc* including alkaloids, steroids, diterpenoid lactones, aliphatics, and glycoside. Apart from the anti-neoplastic properties*, Tc* is also shown to exhibit anti-diabetic, anti-periodic, anti-spasmodic, anti-inflammatory, anti-arthritic, antioxidant, anti-allergic, anti-stress, anti-leprotic, anti-malarial, hepatoprotective and immunomodulatory properties [3,4]. The present review systematically analyzes the published data assessing the effects of *Tc*-derived phytocomponents on cancer.
