Trichosanthes kirilowii is a flowering plant in the family Cucurbitaceae found particularly in China. It is one of the 50 fundamental herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine. The plant is a source of the toxic anti-HIV type I ribosome-inactiving lectin trichosanthin.
It is  found that the anti-tumor components isolated from the extract of trichosanthes (EOT) are cucurbitacin D and dihydrocucurbitacin D, and suggest that cucurbitacin D induces apoptosis through caspase-3 and phosphorylation of JNK in hepatocellular carcinoma cells.
Trichosanthes kirilowii tuber is a traditional medicine which exhibits various medicinal effects including antidiabetic and anticancer activities in several cancer cells. Recently, it was reported that Cucurbitacin D (CuD) isolated from Trichosanthes kirilowii also induces apoptosis in several cancer cells. Constitutive signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), which is an oncogenic transcription factor, is often observed in many human malignant tumor, including breast cancer.