Table 1.

Anticarcinogenic effects of basil extracts in animal studies.

Paper	Type of Study and Level of Evidence	Compound/Extract	Sample	Posology/Treatment	Main Results
Nangia-Makker et al. [25]	Animal study (level 6)	Ocimum gratissimum (holy basil) aqueous extract	MCF10ADCIS.com cells injected in female nude mice	4 mg/mL lyophilized Ocimum gratissimum, hydrophobic or hydrophilic fractions	Slowed down MCF10ADCIS.com tumor growth and progression
Taie et al. [26]	Animal study (level 6)	Ocimum basilicum (sweet basil) leaves’ ethanolic extract	Ehrlich ascites carcinoma cell line injected in female Swiss albino mice 22–25 g; 8–10 weeks old	Ethanolic extracts with 1250, 1500, 1750, or 2000 ppm, with oil extracted from them (0.04, 0.06, 0.08, and 0.10 mg)	Ocimum ethanolic extract and oil with various concentrations changed the viability of Ehrlich ascites carcinoma cells in comparison with untreated cells
Mahmoud [27]	Animal study (level 6)	Ocimum basilicum (basil estragole chemotype) + fresh Tagetes minuta flowers (marigold) (100 g of each) were hydro-distilled	Ehrlich ascites carcinoma cell line (EACC) injected in 48 female Swiss albino mice weighting 20–25 g; 7–8 weeks old	Several volumes of marigold and basil essential oils to finalize with 25, 50, 75, 100, and 200 µg/mL concentrations	Essential oils significantly prevented tumor development (i.e., decreased total EACC number and increased the percentage of dead cells). The pre-initiation treatment was most effective compared to the initiation and post-initiation treatments, with marigold being more effective (i.e., higher percentage of dead cells)