Zizanoic acid is a sesquiterpene in vetiver oil. Zizanoic acid exhibited significant antimycobacterial activity against drug-resistant mutants of M. smegmatis and virulent strain H37Rv of M. tuberculosis. These observations may be of great help in the QSAR-based antimycobacterial drug designing from a very common, inexpensive and non-toxic natural product for the management of MDR and XDR tuberculosis.

Hecogenin is the steroidal saponin aglycone (or sapogenin) present in the leaves of species from the Agave genus, including Agave sisalana, Agave cantala and Agave aurea. Hecogenin has a wide spectrum of pharmacological activities already studied, including anticancer/antiproliferative, antifungal and hipotensive activities. A recent study showed that this substance is a selective inhibitor of human UDP-glucuronosyltransferases, enzymes responsible for the detoxification of numerous chemical toxins

Cucurbitacin I (JSI-124) is a novel selective triterpenoid that acts as a potent inhibitor of the Janus kinase 2/signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (JAK2/STAT3) signaling pathway with anti-proliferative and anti-tumor properties. Cucurbitacin I specifically suppresses levels of tyrosine phosphorylated STAT3 in v-Src-transformed NIH 3T3 cells and in A549 cells (IC50 = 500 nM) resulting in inhibition of STAT3 DNA binding and reduced STAT3-mediated gene transcription. It also suppresses JAK2 phosphorylation but does not affect Src, ERK, JNK or Akt. In nude mice, cucurbitacin I (1 mg/kg/day) suppressed the growth of various tumors expressing constitutively active STAT3.1 It promotes the differentiation of dendritic cells and macrophages and enhances the effect of cancer immunotherapy. Cucurbitacin I (1 µM for 2 hours) reduced clonogenicity of nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells in vitro and suppresses tumor growth in mice (1.3 mg/kg).