Role of Triterpenoids in cancer

plants have been an indispensable source of natural products for medicine. The
chemical constituents of the plant cell that exert biological activities on human and
animal cells fall into two distinct groups, depending on their relative concentration in
the plant body, as well as their major function: primary metabolites, the accumulation
of which satisfies nutritional and structural needs, and secondary metabolites, which
act as hormones, pharmaceuticals and toxins.

Secondary metabolites
Secondary metabolites are compounds belonging to extremely varied chemical groups,
such as organic acids, aromatic compounds, terpenoids, steroids, flavonoids, alkaloids,
carbonyls,

Some secondary metabolites are considered as metabolic waste products, for example,
alkaloids
may function as nitrogen waste products. However, a significant portion of the products
derived form secondary pathways serve either as protective agents against various
pathogens (e.g. insects,
fungi or bacteria) or growth regulatory molecules (e.g. hormone-like substances that
stimulate or
inhibit cell division and morphogenesis). Due to these physiological functions, secondary
metabolites are potential anticancer drugs, since either direct cytotoxicity is effected on
cancer
cells or the course of tumor development is modulated, and eventually inhibited.
Administration of these compounds at low concentrations may be lethal for
microorganisms and
small animals, such as herbivorous insects, but in larger organisms, including humans,
they may
specifically affect the fastest growing tissues such as tumors.

Their function in plants is usually related to metabolic

and/or growth regulation, lignification, coloring of plant parts and protection against
pathogen attack (Payne et al., 1991). Even though secondary metabolism generally
accounts for
less than 10% of the total plant metabolism, its products are the main plant constituents
with
pharmaceutical properties.

2.4. Chemical groups of natural products with

anticancer properties
Plant-derived natural products with documented anticancer/antitumor properties can be
classified into the following 14 chemical groups:
1 Aldehydes - are volatile, aliphatic, usually unbranched molecules, with up to twelve
carbon atoms (C12)
Anticancer activity : due to inhibition of tyrosinase. Immunomodulatory properties
2 Alkaloids - very large group of chemically different compounds with diversified
pharmaceutical
properties. nitrogen-containing substances with a ring structure, weak bases, capable of
forming salts, which are commonly extracted from tissues with an acidic, aqueous
solvent.
Anticancer activity : alkaloids with anticancer activity are either indole, pyridine,
piperidine or aminoalkaloids
3 Annonaceous acetogenins - are a series of C-35/C-37 natural products derived from C-
32/C-34 fatty acids that are combined with a 2-propanol unit. Characterized by a long
aliphatic chain bearing a terminal methyl-substituted _,_-unsaturated _-lactone ring with
1-3 tetrahydrofuran (THF) rings located among the hydrocarbon
chain and a number of oxygenated moieties and/or double bonds. readily soluble in
most organic solvents
Anticancer activity : powerful inhibitors of complex I mitochondrial Electron transport
system. , NADH oxidase inhibitors, decrease cellular ATP production, causing apoptotic
cell death
4 Flavonoids
5 Glycosides
6 Lignans
7 Lipids
8 Lipids (unsaponified)
9 Nucleic acids
10 Phenols and derivatives
11 Polysaccharides
12 Proteins
13 Terpenoids
14 Unidentified compounds.

Aldehyde: