Abstract: Artemisinin and its derivatives are the first-line drugs for the treatment of malaria.In recent years a large number of study showed that artemisinin and its derivatives exhibit good antitumor activity,some compounds with novel structures were synthesized and showed powerful anti-tumor activity that even better than the chemotherapy drugs currently in use.The mechanism of action of artemisinin involves oxidative damage reaction,inhibition of tumor cell proliferation and anti angiogenesis.Some synthetic artemisinin derivatives demonstrates little side effects,low cost,effective against multidrug-resistant cell and a synergistic effect on radiotherapy and chemotherapy.It indicates that the synthetic artemisinin derivatives may become promising hopeful clinical anticancer coumpounds.

Key words: artemisinin, anti-tumor, mechanism, clinical research, adverse effects