Anti-inflammatory, Antitumor, and Chemopreventive Effects of Triterpenes from Plants and Fungi

Naturally occurring triterpenes including triterpene saponins often exhibit a variety of biological activities such as anti-inflammatory, antitumor, chemopreventive, anti-hyperglycemic, anti-hyperlipidemic, hepatoprotective, antivirus, and antimycobacterial activities.This short review describes selected triterpenes and triterpene saponins as well as their structural modification products possessing anti-inflammatory, antitumor, and chemopreventive activities published in the literature mainly from 2002 to 2006.Some of the polyhydroxylated and carboxylated triterpenes exhibited potent biological activities in in vivo model animal experiments and these and their derivatives may have the potential of being used as anti-inflammatory, antitumor, and cancer chemopreventive agents.