综述了近年来淫羊藿苷的提取分离方法和抗肿瘤活性及其机制。目前报道的提取方法有醇提法、超声法、微波法、高压法，分离方法有柱色谱法（聚酰胺法和大孔吸附树脂法）、聚酰胺色谱联用醋酸乙酯萃取法等。淫羊藿苷及其衍生物对肺癌、胃癌、肝癌、乳腺癌、白血病细胞均有一定的抑制活性，主要作用机制为淫羊藿苷通过影响肿瘤细胞周期，下调与肿瘤细胞有关的信号通路及细胞因子的表达，抑制肿瘤细胞的增殖与转移，最终使肿瘤细胞凋亡。

The methods for the extraction and separation of icariin, and the mechanism of anti-tumor activity of icariin are reviewed in this paper. There are various extraction and separation methods have been reported, such as ethanol extraction, ultrasonic, microwave, and high pressure; column chromatography (polyamide and macroporous resin adsorption methods), polyamide chromatography combined with ethyl acetate extraction and so on. Icariin and its derivatives show the potential inhibition on several tumor cells, such as lung cancer, gastric cancer, liver cancer, breast cancer, and leukemia cells. Previous study showed that icariin could induce the cell apoptosis through arresting the cell cycle, inhibiting the tumor cell signaling pathways, down-regulating cell factor,expression, and suppressing the tumor cell proliferation and metastasis.