32 Cancer Preventive and Therapeutic Compounds, 2017, 32-63 CHAPTER 3 Boswellic Acids as Potential Cancer Therapeutics Manjeet Kumar 1 , Arvind Kumar 1 , Omkar P. Dhamale 2 and Bhahwal Ali Shah 1,* 1 Natural Product Microbes, CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (CSIR), Canal Road, Jammu Tawi, India 2 Sanofi Pasteur, 1 Discovery Drive, Swiftwater, Pennsylvania, USA Abstract: Cancer is the second leading cause of deaths worldwide, while it finds the top spot in diseases which still are not 100% curable. In the past few decades, a great deal of progress has been made in discovering new chemical entities, which enables us to understand the cause of cancer at cellular and molecular levels. In this regard, one of the naturally occurring triterpenoid class of compounds known as boswellic acids (BAs), have shown great potential for the development of new anticancer drugs. The interest in these type of triterpenoids has augmented since molecules such as NVX-207 and CDDO-Me have reached clinical trials. The alcoholic extract of the gum has also undergone clinical trials for the treatment of endotoxin induced hepatitis. Recently, the use of boswellic acid as well as its semi synthetic derivatives to treat cancer had been considered as an emerging concept in oncology as these have garnered considerable attention as a chemo-preventive and therapeutic agent in cancer. Keywords: Anti-cancer, Boswellia sp., Boswellic acids, Pentacyclic triterpenes. INTRODUCTION Boswellic acids (BAs), pentacyclic triterpenoid class of natural products are widely known for their anti-inflammatory and anti-arthritic activities [1 - 3]. They inhibit 5-lipoxygenase, an enzyme that produces leukotriene, which is mainly responsible for the body inflammation and interfere with many other biological pathways. These complex scaffolds are generally available from natural sources and because of the numerous stereogenic centers in the aliphatic cyclic systems, their total synthesis and derivatization is relatively more challenging. This class of compounds has provided promising leads for the development of new anti-cancer drugs [4]. The interest for these types of pentacyclic triterpenoids has also grown * Corresponding author Bhahwal Ali Shah: Natural Product Microbes, CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (CSIR), Canal Road, Jammu Tawi, India; Tel/Fax: +91-191-2585006-10; EPABX: 311; E-mail: bashah@iiim.ac.in Sahdeo Prasad & Amit Kumar Tyagi (Eds.) All rights reserved-© 2017 Bentham Science Publishers