Sesquiterpene lactone containing Mexican Indian medicinal plants and pure sesquiterpene lactones as potent inhibitors of transcription factor NF-κB

• Published in: FEBS letters Vol. 402; no. 1; pp. 85 - 90
• Main Authors: Bork, Peter M, Schmitz, M.Lienhard, Kuhnt, Michaela, Escher, Claudia, Heinrich, Michael
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 03.02.1997
• Subjects: acetylsalicylic acid; AMLE; ammonium pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate; Anti-inflammatory; Artemisia ludoviciana ssp. mexicana leaf extract; ASA; Asteraceae; Calea zacatechichi leaf extract; CZLE; electrophoretic mobility shift assay; EMSA; hen egg test-chorioallantoic membrane, NF-κB; HET-CAM; HET-CAM assay; Mixe Indian traditional medicine, Mexico; PDTC; phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride; phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate; PMA; PMLE; PMSF; Polymnia maculata leaf extract; reactive oxygen intermediates; ROIs; SDS; Sesquiterpene lactone; sodium dodecyl sulfate; Transcription factor NF-κB; ROIs; SDS; Transcription factor NF-κB; PMA; PDTC; HET-CAM; ASA; CZLE; PMLE; PMSF; Mixe Indian traditional medicine, Mexico; EMSA; Asteraceae; SL; Sesquiterpene lactone; AMLE; Anti-inflammatory; HET-CAM assay
• ISSN: 0014-5793; 1873-3468
• DOI: 10.1016/S0014-5793(96)01502-5

The potential inhibitory effect of 54 Mexican Indian medicinal plants on the activation of transcription factor NF-κB was studied. Band-shift experiments identified the ethanolic leaf extracts of Artemisia ludoviciana ssp. mexicana, Calea zacatechichi, and Polymnia maculata (all rich in sesquiterpene lactones) as inhibitors of NF-κB down to a concentration of 25 μg/ml. The sesquiterpene lactones isohelenin and parthenolide prevented NF-κB activation completely as low as 5 μM. Treatment of HeLa cells with leaf extract of A. ludoviciana ssp. mexicana, isohelenin and parthenolide prevented the induction of transcription on the IL-6 promoter. These experiments identify the eudesmanolide and germacranolide type of sesquiterpene lactones as potent non-antioxidant inhibitors of NF-κB. All plants active in the NF-κB assay also showed a delay in the onset of capillary reactions of the allantois membrane in a physiological model for anti-inflammatory activity — the HET-CAM assay.