Cucurbitacin D has anticancer effects, it induces apoptosis through caspase-3 and phosphorylation of JNK in hepatocellular carcinoma cells. Cucurbitacin D may be a potential therapeutic agent for β-hemoglobinopathies, including sickle cell anemia and β-thalassemia. Cucurbitacin D is a new inflammasome activator in macrophages, it can initiate immunomodulating activity in macrophages to lead to inflammasome activation as well as enhancement of LPS signaling. Cucurbitacin D is a cucurbitacin in which a lanostane skeleton is multi-substituted with hydroxy, methyl and oxo substituents, with unsaturation at positions 5 and 23. It is a tertiary alpha-hydroxy ketone, a cucurbitacin and a secondary alpha-hydroxy ketone. It derives from a hydride of a lanostane.