Table 1.

Biological effects of the synthetic saponins.

Sapogenin	Pharmacology	Effect	Reference
Triterpenoid Saponins
Oleanane (Oleanolic acid)	Anticancer	IC50 = 1.1–4.6 µM against SMMC-7721, NCI-H460, U251, SKOV-3, HCT-116, SGC-7901 in vitro and 46.8% regression in H22 xenograft mouse	[33]
		IC50 = 1.6–6.5 µM against SMMC-7221, NCI-H460, U251, HCT-116 in vitro and 51.5% regression in H22 xenograft mouse	[32]
		IC50 = 0.5–2.7 µM against PC-3, HT-29, HepG2, A549, HL-60, U937 in vitro	[35]
		IC50 = 7.6 µM against HCT-116 in vitro and >50 µM to human normal cells	[31]
		50% regression in MCF-7 xenograft mouse	[30]
		IC50 = 0.76 µM against HL-60	[18]
		IC50 = 5.74 and 2.78 $\mathsf{\mu }$M against HL-60 and HCT-116, respectively	[21]
	Anti-Alzheimer	Protec PC12 from H2O2 and Aβ1–42 induced injury	[38]
	Antivirus	Prevent H5N1 infection in MDCK as the selective index > 40	[39,40]
	Glucosidase inhibition	Inhibit $\mathsf{\alpha }$-glucosidase with IC50 = 9.2 µM which is 40X stronger than acarbose	[41]
Oleanane (Hederagenin)	Anticancer	IC50 = 1.2–4.7 µM against SMMC-7721, MCF-7, NCI-H460, A549, HCT-116 in vitro and 49.8% regression in H22 xenograft mouse	[45]
	Antileishmanial	ED50 = 6.0 µM against axenic L. mexicana amastigotes and 29.7 $\mathsf{\mu }$M against host macrophage	[46]
Oleanane (Quillaic acid)	Immunomodulatory	IgG expression higher than GPI-0100	[47,48]
		IgG expression higher than QS-21	[49]
Ursane	Antivirus	Prevent H5N1 infection in MDCK as the selective index > 950	[50]
	Glucosidase inhibition	Inhibit $\mathsf{\alpha }$-glucosidase with IC50 = 448 µM which is comparable to acarbose	[51]
	Antioxidant	Protect H9c2 cardiomyocytes from H2O2 induced apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner (0.02–0.5 µg/mL)	[52]
	Anti-inflammatory	EC50 = 9.8 µM for preventing NO overproduction induced by LPS in macrophages	[53]
Lupane	Anticancer	IC50 = 5.0 µM and >100 against DLD-1 and WS-1, respectively (high selectivity index)
		IC50 = 1.7 and 4.2 µM against MCF-7 and HDFa, respectively (low selectivity index)	[54]
		IC50 = 0.9–2.6 µM against CEM, MCF-7, HeLa, G-361 and 1.3 $\mathsf{\mu }$M against BJ normal cells	[55]
	Antibacterial	MIC = 7.8–15.5 µg/mL against Staphylococcus aureus	[56,57]
Dammarane	Anticancer	IC50 =4.6 µM against HeLa cells	[58]
	Antioxidant	Inhibit the AAPH-induced hemolysis in rabbit erythrocytes	[59]
	Antiasthma	Effective in reducing IgE plasma level and airway resistance in OVA-induced asthmatic mouse model	[60]
	Skin protection	Conjugation of ginsenoside Rh2 with ZnONcs can increase SPF rating and reduce toxicity in HaCaT cells	[61]
Steroid Saponins
Cholestane	Anticancer	IC50 = 0.0012–13.0 µM against HCT-116, NCI-H1975, Capan2, SW1990, SK-N-SH, BGC823, HepG2.	[62]
		IC50 = 0.0054 and 0.16 µM against Jurkat cancer cells and CRL1999 normal cells, respectively	[63]
		Identify the apoptosis induced by OSW-1 might result from Golgi response through CREB3-ARF4 pathway and interaction between OSW-1 and cholesterol	[64,65]
Spirostane	Anticancer	IC50 = 1–2 µM against leukemia cell CCRF and induced a profound increase in protein expression of CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein α (C/EBPα)	[13,66]
		IC50 = 2.7 and 4.6 µM against HepG2 and MCF-7, respectiviely	[67]
	Antimicrobial and Antifungal	MIC = 2–8 µg/mL against Candida, Staphylococcus, Enterococcus, Bacillus species	[68]
Furostane	Glucosidase inhibition	Inhibit α-glucosidase with IC50 = 96 µM which is 12X stronger than acarbose	[69]
Cardenolide	Anticancer	Inhibit 70% of NIH-H460 cancer cells at 50 nM	[70]
		IC50 = 0.108–3.27 µM against MCF-7	[71]
		Inhibit cancer growth in 0.01–0.1 µM range and no toxicity at 3 µM	[72]