Prophylactic and therapeutic roles of oleanolic acid and its derivatives in several diseases

Abstract

Oleanolic acid (OA) and its derivatives are widely found in diverse plants and are naturally effective pentacyclic triterpenoid compounds with broad prophylactic and therapeutic roles in various diseases such as ulcerative colitis, multiple sclerosis, metabolic disorders, diabetes, hepatitis and different cancers. This review assembles and presents the latest in vivo reports on the impacts of OA and OA derivatives from various plant sources and the biological mechanisms of OA activities. Thus, this review presents sufficient data proposing that OA and its derivatives are potential alternative and complementary therapies for the treatment and management of several diseases.

Keywords: Oleanolic acid, Prophylactic, Anti-inflammatory, Anti-diabetics, Neuroprotective, Hepatoprotective

Core tip: Oleanolic acid (OA) is plentiful in many fruits and vegetables. Studies have shown that OA and its derivatives exert promising pharmacological actions including anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, hepatoprotective, anti-osteoporotic and anti-diabetics at low doses. However, it is not a “cure-all” drug or drug candidate and could exert adverse effects at high doses, particularly its derivatives. In addition, information elucidating the drug-drug/drug-herb interactions associated with OA and its derivatives is inadequate. Nevertheless, there is a reasonable amount of literature, as fully explored in this review that OA and its derivatives have crucial prophylactic and therapeutic potential for diseases including ulcerative colitis, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.