2-cyano-3,12-dioxooleana-1,9 (11)-dien-28-oic
acid (CDDO) is a compound synthesized by taking
oleanolic acid, a natural
triterpene, as a precursor or precursor, and transforming three modifiable functional groups in the molecule through a series of chemical structure modification. In order to improve its anti-
tumor activity, CDDO derivatives are further synthesized. In this
paper, the
research results of anti-
tumor effects and mechanisms of CDDO and its derivatives in recent years are summarized. It is found that CDDO and its derivatives have a wide range of anti-
tumor effects, and can show significant anti-
tumor effects on
breast cancer,
pancreatic cancer,
lung cancer and
ovarian cancer at low concentrations such as micromole or even nanomole, among which CDDO methyl
ester compound (CDDO-Me) and CDDO imidazolidinone compound (CDDO-Im) have the most obvious effects. CDDO and its derivatives exert anti-
tumor activity mainly by inducing
tumor cell apoptosis, and regulating
metabolic reprogramming and immune microenvironment. The involved pathways mainly include Janus
protein tyrosine kinase (JAK)/
signal transduction and
transcription activation protein 3(STAT3)
signal pathway,
nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (NRF2)
signal pathway,
phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase (PI3K)/
protein kinase B (also known as Akt)/mammalian
rapamycin target protein (mTOR)
signal pathway, Wnt/β-
catenin signal pathway, nuclear factor κB
signal pathway.