www.scholarsresearchlibrary.com t Available online a Scholars Research Library Archives of Applied Science Research, 2014, 6 (3):47-58 (http://scholarsresearchlibrary.com/archive.html) ISSN 0975-508X CODEN (USA) AASRC9 47 Scholars Research Library Betulinic acid and its derivatives as anti-cancer agent: A review Gomathi Periasamy*, Girma Teketelew, Mebrahtom Gebrelibanos, Biruk Sintayehu, Michael Gebrehiwot, Aman Karim and Gereziher Geremedhin Department of Pharmacy, College of Health Sciences, Mekelle University, Mekelle, Ethiopia _____________________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT Betulinic acid is a known natural product which has gained a lot of attention in the recent years since it exhibits a variety of biological and medicinal properties. This review provides the most important anticancer properties of betulinic acid and its derivatives. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION Cancer is a group of diseases that cause cells in the body to change and grow out of control[1]. Cancer cell growth is different from normal cell growth. Instead of dying, cancer cells keep on growing and form new cancer cells. These cancer cells can grow into (invade) other tissues, something that normal cells cannot do. In most cases the cancer cells form a tumor. But some cancers, like leukemia, rarely form tumors. Instead, these cancer cells are in the blood and bone marrow[2]. Cancer cell escape from many of the normal homeostatic mechanism that control proliferation. They invade surrounding tissues, gets into the body’s circulating system and set up areas of proliferation away from the site of their original appearance[3]. Cancer is the second most important disease leading to death in both the developing and developed countries nowadays. The global burden of cancer continues to increase largely because of the aging and growth of the world population alongside an increasing adoption of cancer-causing behaviors, particularly smoking, in economically developing countries[4]. A substantial proportion of the worldwide burden of cancer could be prevented through the application of existing cancer control knowledge and by implementing programs for tobacco control, vaccination (for liver and cervical cancers), and early detection and treatment, as well as public health campaigns promoting physical activity and a healthier dietary intake. Clinicians, public health professionals, and policy makers can play an active role in accelerating the application of such interventions globally[5]. The naturally occurring pentacyclic triterpenoid, betulinic acid has been shown to possess anti-tumoural activity and overcome resistance by inducing apoptosis in a variety of human cancers. Its selective cytotoxicity against cancer was first described on human melanoma both in vitro and in vivo. Since that initial study, Betulinic Acid has been reported to be effective on a growing number of human cancers, including those of the lung, colon, prostate, and ovary, whereas normal cells were unaffected by Betulinic Acid treatment. Interestingly, Betulinic Acid has also been successfully applied in vitro in childhood cancers, namely medulloblastoma, glioblastoma, Ewing sarcoma, neuroblastoma, and leukaemia.