Pharmacological properties of the ubiquitous natural product betulin.

Molecular activities, biosynthesis and evolution of triterpenoid saponins.

https://jeffreydachmd.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/What-made-sesquiterpene-lactones-reach-cancer-clinical-trials-Ghantous-Akram-2010.pdf

What made sesquiterpene lactones reach cancer clinical trials

The anti-inflammatory natural product parthenolide from the medicinal herb Feverfew directly binds to and inhibits IkappaB kinase

Anti-inflammatory Compounds Parthenolide and Bay 11-7082 Are Direct Inhibitors of the Inflammasome

This paper reviews the literature on recent research on the chemical composition and pharmacological activities of saffron (Crocus sativus) and its active constituents, mainly as antitumoral, hypolipidemic and tissue oxygenation enhancement agents.

An Update Review of Saffron and its Active Constituents

This paper compiles the beneficial effects of cocoa polyphenols on human health, especially with regard to cardiovascular and inflammatory diseases, metabolic disorders, and cancer prevention. Their antioxidant properties may be responsible for many of their pharmacological effects, including the inhibition of lipid peroxidation and the protection of LDL-cholesterol against oxidation, and increase resistance to oxidative stress. The phenolics from cocoa also modify the glycemic response and the lipid profile, decreasing platelet function and inflammation along with diastolic and systolic arterial pressures, which, taken together, may reduce the risk of cardiovascular mortality. Cocoa polyphenols can also modulate intestinal inflammation through the reduction of neutrophil infiltration and expression of different transcription factors, which leads to decreases in the production of proinflammatory enzymes and cytokines. The phenolics from cocoa may thus protect against diseases in which oxidative stress is implicated as a causal or contributing factor, such as cancer. They also have antiproliferative, antimutagenic, and chemoprotective effects, in addition to their anticariogenic effects.

/pdf/cocoa-polyphenols-and-their-potential-benefits-for-human-1ceaupvxdv.pdf

Cocoa Polyphenols and Their Potential Benefits for Human Health

Lanostanes are a group of tetracyclic triterpenoids derived from lanosterol. They have relevant biological and pharmacological properties, such as their cytotoxic effects via induction of apoptosis. This review compiles the most relevant lanostanoids studied from 2000 to 2011, principally those isolated from Ganoderma lucidum and other related fungi, such as Poria cocos, Laetiporus sulphureus, Inonotus obliquus, Antrodia camphorata, Daedalea dickinsii, and Elfvingia applanata, which have great potential as anticancer agents because of their cytotoxic or apoptotic effects. The compounds were selected on the basis of their proapoptotic mechanisms, through their ability to modify transcriptional activities via nuclear factors or genes and the activation or inhibition of pro- or antiapoptotic proteins; studies based only on their cytotoxicity were excluded from this review in the absence of complementary studies on their mechanisms of action. A total of 81 compounds from Ganoderma lucidum and other species from this genus are included, as well as 96 compounds isolated from other fungi, principally Poria cocos. Some of these compounds were found to arrest the cell cycle in the G1 phase, increase levels of p53 and Bax, or inhibit the phosphorylation of Erk1/2 or the activation of NF-κB and AP-1. Other lanostanes have inhibitory effects on the growth of androgen prostate carcinoma through increasing the expression of p21, which activates the tumor suppressor protein p53, while other compounds have been shown to selectively inhibit topo II activity without affecting topo I. General considerations concerning the chemical structure-biological activities of these compounds are also discussed.

Lanostanoids from Fungi: A Group of Potential Anticancer Compounds

In recent years the role of phenolic compounds and sesquiterpene lactones, particularly parthenolide, in the anti-migraine and anti-inflammatory effects of Tanacetum parthenium (Asteraceae) has attracted much attention. However, the closely-related cosmopolitan species T. vulgare has remained outside the mainstream of research in this field.



After treating the aerial parts of T. vulgare with dichloromethane and methanol, and applying conventional column and thin-layer chromatographic techniques, it was possible to isolate from the moderately lipophilic fractions the principles responsible for the anti-inflammatory activity of this plant against the mouse-ear oedema induced by 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate. These were identified by ultraviolet and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy as parthenolide (93% oedema inhibition at 0.5 mg/ear, ID50 (dose of drug inhibiting the oedema by 50%) = 0.18 μmol/ear) and the methoxyflavones jaceosidin (80% oedema inhibition at 0.5 mg/ear, ID50 = 0.50 μmol/ear), eupatorin, chrysoeriol and diosmetin.



Because in molar terms the potency of parthenolide was nearly three times greater than that of the most active of the flavones and because it is obtained from the plant in considerably larger amounts, the flavonoids must only be partially responsible, and to a minor extent, for the observed in-vivo anti-inflammatory local effect.

Rosa-María Giner

Papers

An Update Review of Saffron and its Active Constituents

Cocoa Polyphenols and Their Potential Benefits for Human Health

Lanostanoids from Fungi: A Group of Potential Anticancer Compounds

Anti-inflammatory Effects of South American Tanacetum vulgare

Topical anti-inflammatory activity of some Asian medicinal plants used in dermatological disorders