Cancer chemopreventive activity of terpenoid coumarins from Ferula species

• Published in: Planta medica Vol. 74; no. 2; pp. 147 - 150
• Main Authors: Iranshahi, M, Kalategi, F, Rezaee, R, Shahverdi, A.R, Ito, C, Furukawa, H, Tokuda, H, Itoigawa, M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany 01.02.2008
• Subjects: anticarcinogenic activity; Anticarcinogenic Agents - pharmacology; Apiaceae; Cell Line, Tumor; chemoprevention; coumarins; Coumarins - isolation & purification; Coumarins - pharmacology; cultured cells; Ferula; Ferula - chemistry; Ferula flabelliloba; Herpesvirus 4, Human - drug effects; Herpesvirus 4, Human - isolation & purification; human health; Humans; Lymphoma, B-Cell; phytochemicals; Plant Extracts - isolation & purification; Plant Extracts - pharmacology; Terpenes - isolation & purification; Terpenes - pharmacology; terpenoids; Iran
• ISSN: 0032-0943; 1439-0221
• DOI: 10.1055/s-2008-1034293

Several natural products have been found to have anti-tumor promoting activity. In the present study, we carried out a primary screening of ten terpenoid coumarins isolated from plants of the Ferula species, examining their possible inhibitory effects on Epstein-Barr virus early antigen (EBV-EA) activation induced by 12- O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (TPA) in Raji cells. Auraptene (7-geranyloxycoumarin, 1) and umbelliprenin (7-farnesyloxycoumarin, 2) were found to significantly inhibit EBV-EA activation and preserved the high viability of Raji cells, suggesting that they might be valuable anti-tumor-promoting agents (IC (50) 8.3 and 9.1 nM, respectively). Our findings revealed that the presence of a prenyl moiety in the terpenoid coumarins plays an important role in anti-tumor promoting activity as previously reported for xanthones, coumarins, flavonoids and phenylpropanoids.