Numerous edible vegetables and fruits possess plant-based compounds with enormous anticarcinogenic
attributes, including phenolic, vitamins, and alkaloid compounds. Cancer therapies mainly encompass
surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy, sometimes accompanied by rapid recurrence and significant
side effects. Consequently, elucidating efficacious chemotherapeutic procedures are needed to diminish
the likelihood of recurrence and metastasis. Erianin (Shihu, Traditional Chinese Medicine), a naturally occurring
compound derived from Dendrobium chrysotoxum Lindl., has been documented to possess anticancer
and antioxidative properties. This review presented an overview of Erianin's (ER) involvement in cancer and
elucidated the molecular mechanisms underlying its anticancer effect via regulating signaling pathways, including
PI3K/AKT, MEK, JNK, NRF2/PLOOH, JAK/STAT3, GSK3β, and NLRP3/ROS pathways. All these
mechanisms ultimately induce apoptosis via targeting mainly invasion, migration, and angiogenesis. This review
is thus intended to include all possible recent progress in the anticancer efficacy of erianin and to justify
the necessity for further investigation into its anticancer properties in the future.