“…Steroidal saponins, which abundantly exist in Dioscoreaceae, Smilacaceae, Liliaceae and Scrophulariaceae (Guo et al, 2015;Tong et al, 2012), exert a wide variety of biological functions, including cytotoxic and anticancer activities (Zeng et al, 2014;Zhao et al, 2009). For example, prosapogenin A (PSA), trillin (TRL) and diosgenin (DSN), three typical steroidal saponins, inhibit the proliferation of a panel of human cancer cell lines, including human hepatocellular carcinoma cells, human cervical cancer cells, mcf human breast cancer cells, human leukemic cells and human promyelocytic leukemia NB(4) cells, with definite anticancer mechanisms (Liu et al, 2004;Romero-Hernández et al, 2015;Wang et al, 2013). Polyphyllin I (PPI, see Figure 1A), one of the main steroidal saponins extracted from Paris polyphylla, is regarded as a potential candidate agent for its remarkable anticancer effects (Cheung et al, 2005).…”