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.