1.
Natural phenolic compounds from medicinal herbs and dietary plants: potential use for cancer prevention.
Huang, WY, Cai, YZ, Zhang, Y
Nutrition and cancer. 2010;(1):1-20
Abstract
Natural phenolic compounds play an important role in cancer prevention and treatment. Phenolic compounds from medicinal herbs and dietary plants include phenolic acids, flavonoids, tannins, stilbenes, curcuminoids, coumarins, lignans, quinones, and others. Various bioactivities of phenolic compounds are responsible for their chemopreventive properties (e.g., antioxidant, anticarcinogenic, or antimutagenic and anti-inflammatory effects) and also contribute to their inducing apoptosis by arresting cell cycle, regulating carcinogen metabolism and ontogenesis expression, inhibiting DNA binding and cell adhesion, migration, proliferation or differentiation, and blocking signaling pathways. This review covers the most recent literature to summarize structural categories and molecular anticancer mechanisms of phenolic compounds from medicinal herbs and dietary plants.
2.
Chemical study and medical application of saponins as anti-cancer agents.
Man, S, Gao, W, Zhang, Y, Huang, L, Liu, C
Fitoterapia. 2010;(7):703-14
Abstract
Saponins are a group of naturally occurring plant glycosides, characterized by their strong foam-forming properties in aqueous solution. The presence of saponins has been reported in more than 100 families of plants out of which at least 150 kinds of natural saponins have been found to possess significant anti-cancer properties. There are more than 11 distinguished classes of saponins including dammaranes, tirucallanes, lupanes, hopanes, oleananes, taraxasteranes, ursanes, cycloartanes, lanostanes, cucurbitanes and steroids. Due to the great variability of their structures, saponins always display anti-tumorigenic effects through varieties of antitumor pathways. In addition, there are a large amount of saponins that still either remain to be trapped or studied in details by the medicinal chemists. This article reviews many such structures and their related chemistry along with the recent advances in understanding mechanism of action and structure-function relationships of saponins at the molecular and cellular levels. These aglycones have been described and their classification and distribution have been listed in the review. Some special saponins with strong antitumor effects have also been exhibited. Ginsenosides, belonging to dammaranes, have been found beneficial targeted on inhibition of tumor angiogenesis by suppressing its inducer in the endothelial cells of blood vessels, and then on prevention of adhering, invasion, and metastasis of tumor cells. Dioscin, one of the steroidal saponins, and its aglycone diosgenin also have been extensively studied on its antitumor effect by cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. Other important molecules discussed include oleanane saponins such as avicins, platycodons, saikosaponins, and soysaponins along with tubeimosides.
3.
[Effect of Shenqi Fuzheng injection (SFI) on immune function in patients with congestive heart failure].
Liu, H, Wu, X, Zhang, Y, Lian, W
Zhong yao cai = Zhongyaocai = Journal of Chinese medicinal materials. 2005;(9):854-6
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To study the effect of Shenqi Fuzheng injection on the humoral immunity (IgG IgM IgA), cellular immunity (T-lymphocyte subsets), Superoxide dismutase (SOD). Lpo and Plasma viscosity in the patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). METHODS Sixty patients with CHF, whose heart function belonged to NYHA grade II-IV were randomly divide into two groups. The treaded group were treated with SFI 100 ml, and the control group were treated by nitroglycerine in jection 10 mg, the drug were administered respectively by adding in 5% glucose solution 500 ml for intravenous dripping, once a day, 20 days as one therapeutic course. Venous blood from cubital vein was collected before and after treatment to detect the IgG, IgM, IgA, T-lymphocyte subsets, SOD, LPO and Plasma viscosity. RESULTS The clinical heart function markedly improved rate and total effective rate in the treated group was singificantly better than those in the control group respectively (P < 0.05). the left ventricular ejecting frection (LVEF) and end syctolic volume (ESV) were improved in both group (P < 0.05, P < 0.01), and the improvement in the treated group was superior to that in the control group (P < 0.05). In the treated group after treatment, the CD4, SOD level and CD4/DC8 ratio increased (P < 0.05), level of LPO, IgG and IgM lowered (P < 0.05) significantly, while those in the control group were not changed singificantly (P > 0.05). Plasma viscosity of treatment group also got better improved than before (P < 0.05), and there was a significantly difference between the two groups after treatment (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION SFI Can improve the immune funtion of CHF patients, and can be taken as an importmant auxiliary treatment for CHF.