Beijing Key Laboratory of New Drug Discovery Based on Classic Chinese Medicine Prescription, Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substances and Resources Utilization of Chinese Herbal Medicine, Ministry of Education, Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, 100193, China.
Key Laboratory of Research and Utilization of Ethnomedicinal Plant Resources of Hunan Province, Key Laboratory of Hunan Higher Education for Western Hunan Medicinal Plant and Ethnobotany, Hunan Provincial Higher Education Key Laboratory of Intensive Processing Research on Mountain Ecological Food, Key Laboratory of Natural Products Research and Utilization in Wuling Mountain Area, Department of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Huaihua University, Huaihua, 418008, China.
Phytochemistry. 2025 Jan;229:114257. doi: 10.1016/j.phytochem.2024.114257. Epub 2024 Aug 30.
Cancer poses a significant global public health challenge, with commonly used adjuvant or neoadjuvant chemotherapy often leading to adverse side effects and drug resistance. Therefore, advancing cancer treatment necessitates the ongoing development of novel anticancer agents with diverse structures and mechanisms of action. Natural products remain crucial in the process of drug discovery, serving as a primary source for pharmaceutical leads and therapeutic advancements. Triterpenoids are particularly compelling due to their complex structures and wide array of biological activities. Recent research has demonstrated that naturally occurring triterpenes and their derivatives have the potential to serve as promising candidates for new drug development. This review aims to comprehensively explore the anticancer properties of triterpenoids and their synthetic analogs, with a focus on recent advancements. Various aspects, such as synthesis, phytochemistry, and molecular simulation for structure-activity relationship analyses, are summarized. It is anticipated that triterpenoid derivatives will emerge as notable anticancer agents following further investigation into their mechanisms of action and in vivo studies.
癌症是一个全球性的重大公共卫生挑战，常用的辅助或新辅助化疗往往会导致不良反应和耐药性。因此，癌症治疗的进展需要不断开发具有不同结构和作用机制的新型抗癌药物。天然产物在药物发现过程中仍然至关重要，是药物先导物和治疗进展的主要来源。三萜类化合物因其复杂的结构和广泛的生物活性而特别引人注目。最近的研究表明，天然存在的三萜类化合物及其衍生物有可能成为新药开发的有前途的候选物。本综述旨在全面探讨三萜类化合物及其合成类似物的抗癌特性，重点介绍最新进展。总结了各个方面，如合成、植物化学和分子模拟进行结构-活性关系分析。预计三萜类衍生物在进一步研究其作用机制和体内研究后，将成为有价值的抗癌药物。
