Traditional medicine and diet has served mankind through the ages for prevention and treatment of most chronic diseases. Mounting evidence suggests that chronic inflammation mediates most chronic diseases, including cancer. More than other transcription factors, nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-κB) and STAT3 have emerged as major regulators of inflammation, cellular transformation, and tumor cell survival, proliferation, invasion, angiogenesis, and metastasis. Thus, agents that can inhibit NF-κB and STAT3 activation pathways have the potential to both prevent and treat cancer. In this review, we examine the potential of one group of compounds called triterpenes, derived from traditional medicine and diet for their ability to suppress inflammatory pathways linked to tumorigenesis. These triterpenes include avicins, betulinic acid, boswellic acid, celastrol, diosgenin, madecassic acid, maslinic acid, momordin, saikosaponins, platycodon, pristimerin, ursolic acid, and withanolide. This review thus supports the famous adage of Hippocrates, "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food".

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Targeting Inflammatory Pathways by Triterpenoids for Prevention and Treatment of Cancer

The genus Commiphora: a review of its traditional uses, phytochemistry and pharmacology

Boswellic acids: a group of medicinally important compounds.

Clerodane diterpenes: sources, structures, and biological activities

Lichens, which are defined by a core symbiosis between a mycobiont (fungal partner) and a photobiont (photoautotrophic partner), are in fact complex assemblages of microorganisms that constitute a largely untapped source of bioactive secondary metabolites. Historically, compounds isolated from lichens have predominantly been those produced by the dominant fungal partner, and these continue to be of great interest for their unique chemistry and biotechnological potential. In recent years it has become apparent that many photobionts and lichen-associated bacteria also produce a range of potentially valuable molecules. There is evidence to suggest that the unique nature of the symbiosis has played a substantial role in shaping many aspects of lichen chemistry, for example driving bacteria to produce metabolites that do not bring them direct benefit but are useful to the lichen as a whole. This is most evident in studies of cyanobacterial photobionts, which produce compounds that differ from free living cyanobacteria and are unique to symbiotic organisms. The roles that these and other lichen-derived molecules may play in communication and maintaining the symbiosis are poorly understood at present. Nonetheless, advances in genomics, mass spectrometry and other analytical technologies are continuing to illuminate the wealth of biological and chemical diversity present within the lichen holobiome. Implementation of novel biodiscovery strategies such as metagenomic screening, coupled with synthetic biology approaches to reconstitute, re-engineer and heterologously express lichen-derived biosynthetic gene clusters in a cultivable host, offer a promising means for tapping into this hitherto inaccessible wealth of natural products.

Secondary metabolism in the lichen symbiosis

Inhibitory effect of acetyl-11-keto-β-boswellic acid on androgen receptor by interference of Sp1 binding activity in prostate cancer cells

Eight new cycloartane-type triterpenoids, cycloartan-24-ene-1α,2α,3α-triol (1), 3β-acetoxycycloartan-24-ene-1α,2α-diol (2), 1α-acetoxycycloartan-24-ene-2α,3β-diol (3), 3β-isovaleroyloxycycloartan-2...

Cycloartane-Type Triterpenoids from the Resinous Exudates of Commiphora opobalsamum

Investigation of constituents from Cinnamomum camphora (L.) J. Presl and evaluation of their anti-inflammatory properties in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages

Three new anthraquinone derivatives (1-3) and one new artifact (4) were isolated, along with six known anthraquinone derivatives (5-10) and three xanthones (11-13), from a culture of an endolichenic fungus, Aspergillus versicolor, that was isolated from the lichen Lobaria retigera. The structures of these substances were determined on the basis of 1D and 2D (COSY, HMQC, and HMBC) NMR and MS analyses. The substances 1-4 were also tested for their cytotoxic activity.

https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/ddt/8/2/8_84/_pdf

Metabolites from Aspergillus versicolor, an endolichenic fungus from the lichen Lobaria retigera.

Ten new clerodane diterpenoids (1-10), caseabalansins A-G, 18-epicaseabalansin A, 2-epicaseabalansin B, and 2-epicaseabalansin C, one new triterpenoid, balansinone (11), and seven known diterpenoids (12-18) were obtained from the leaves and twigs of Casearia balansae. Compounds 1 and 2 are the first examples of clerodane diterpenoids with an oxygen bridge between C-2 and C-19, and compounds 5-7 are three new diterpenoid artifacts presumably formed during the extraction process. The structures of the new compounds were established on the basis of extensive spectroscopic data, and that of 11 was verified by single-crystal X-ray crystallographic analysis. Compound 15 showed cytotoxic activity against the tumor cell lines PC3, DU145, SKOV3, and A549 with IC₅₀ values of 4.5, 4.3, 5.1, and 5.7 μM, respectively. Compounds 1a, 2a, and 4 showed selective activity against PC3 tumor cells.

Xiao-Ling Wang

Papers

Inhibitory effect of acetyl-11-keto-β-boswellic acid on androgen receptor by interference of Sp1 binding activity in prostate cancer cells

Cycloartane-Type Triterpenoids from the Resinous Exudates of Commiphora opobalsamum

Investigation of constituents from Cinnamomum camphora (L.) J. Presl and evaluation of their anti-inflammatory properties in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages

Metabolites from Aspergillus versicolor, an endolichenic fungus from the lichen Lobaria retigera.

Cytotoxic clerodane diterpenoids from the leaves and twigs of Casearia balansae.