Abstract: Natural products have been used to combat human diseases for thousands of years and play an increasing role in drug discovery and development.Betulinic acid (BA) is a naturally pentacyclic triterpenoid which has demonstrated selective cytotoxicity against a number of specific tumor types,particularly melanoma tumor,and a variety of infectious agents such as HIV,bacteria and malaria.Many studies established a favorable safety margin for betulinic acid,as systemic side effects were not observed at any dose.More importantly,BA successfully passed anti-HIV phase II clinical trial recently,hence BA has been considered as one of the most promising drug lead compounds.This paper reviewed the research progress about the preparation technologies and pharmacological activities of BA in recent years,in order to provide reference for the research and development of BA.

Key words: betulinic acid, anticancer, preparation, pharmacological activity