TABLE 2.

Saponins that exert anti-tumor effects by regulating cholesterol levels.

Saponins	Cancer types	Cholesterol target	Antitumor mechanisms	in vivo experiments	References
Ginsenoside Rh2	A431, A549, THP-1, U937 cells	lipid raft	Akt, Bad, caspase-9, caspase-3	No	Thakur et al. (2013) Tuzmen et al. (2019)
Ginsenoside Rb1	PC12 cell	PPARγ	Aβ25-35-induced	No	Verstraeten et al. (2018)
Polyphyllin D	HepG2 cell	Membrane cholesterol	apoptosis	No	Wang and Tontonoz (2018)
Avicins D	Jurkat cell	lipid Rafts	Fas, Caspase-8	No	Wang et al. (2022)
α-hederin	U937, THP-1 cells	membrane cholesterol	apoptosis	Yes	Sucha et al. (2013)
			ferroptosis		Zhu et al. (2022)
hederacolchiside-A1	HUVECs	plasma membrane cholesterol	VEGFR2, HaRas/MEK/ERK	No	Wei et al. (2016)
Pulsatilla saponin E	A549 cell	flotilin-1, flotilin-2	Akt/FASN	No	Weng et al. (2020a)
Ginsenoside Rp1	OVCAR-8, DXR cells	CAV-1, GM-1	MDR-1, Scr	No	Xiao et al. (2023)
Ginsenoside Rg3	KB V20C cells	membrane fluidity	P-gp	Yes	Xie et al. (2024)
Polyphyllin I	GBM cell	membrane cholesterol	MALAT1/STAT3	Yes	Xie and Chen (2021)
Polyphyllin VII	ARP1, ANBL6, ANBL6-BTZ cells	membrane cholesterol	Wnt/β-catenin	No	Xu et al. (2020)
Ginsenosides Rg1 and CK	U251-WT, U251-R cells	LXRαin, Lipid Raft	MDR-1, MGMT	No	Nobili et al. (2020)
Saponinum album	Daudi human lymphoma cell	membrane cholesterol,LDL	BU12-SAP endolysosomal escape	No	Yang et al. (2018)
Momordin Ic	Hela cell	cholesterol, ganglioside GM1	MAP30 endolysosomal escape	No	Ye et al. (2019)
Raddeanin A	SMMC-7721, MCF-7, A549, L02 cells	Galectin-9	MAP30 endolysosomal escape	No	Yun et al. (2013)
Tim-AIII	H1299, A549, SPC-A1 cells	SREBP2	GPX4, HSP90	Yes	Zhang et al. (2021)
Ruscogenin	BxPC-3, SW 1990, PANC-1, AsPC-1 cells	cholesterol	ROS, ferrous irons	No	Zhou et al. (2023)
dioscin	A375, G361, WM115 cells	HMGCR	ferrostatin-1, GPNA, compound 968 [107]	Yes	Vo et al. (2017)