OBJECTIVETo investigate the sesquiterpene lactones of the aerial parts of Inula helianthus-aquatica.

METHODCompounds were isolated and purified by silica gel, Sephadex LH-20 and preparative HPLC. On the basis of physicochemical properties and spectroscopic data, their structures were identified.

RESULTSeven sesquiterpene lactones and four other compounds were obtained and identified as 2-desoxy-4-epi-pulchellin (1), 6-acetoxy-4-hydroxy-1, 10H-pseudoguaia-11 (13)-en-12,8-olide (2), 4-acetoxy-6-hydroxy-1, 10H-pseudoguaia-11(13)-en-12,8-olide (3), 8-epi-inuviscolide (4), 2,3,11,13-tetrahydroaromaticin (5), 11,13-dihydro-ergolide (6), 4-epipulchellin-2-O-acetate (7), 7-epiloliolide (8), loliolide (9), beta-sitosterol (10) and daucosterol (11).

CONCLUSIONAll the compounds were isolated from this plant for the first time.

Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Inula ; chemistry ; Lactones ; analysis ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Sesquiterpenes ; chemistry

Inflammation is recently recognized as one of the hallmarks of human cancer. Chronic inflammatory response plays a critical role in cancer development, progression, metastasis, and resistance to chemotherapy. Conversely, the oncogenic aberrations also generate an inflammatory microenvironment, enabling the development and progression of cancer. The molecular mechanisms of action that are responsible for inflammatory cancer and cancer-associated inflammation are not fully understood due to the complex crosstalk between oncogenic and pro-inflammatory genes. However, molecular mediators that regulate both inflammation and cancer, such as NF-κB and STAT have been considered as promising targets for preventing and treating these diseases. Recent works have further demonstrated an important role of oncogenes (e.g., NFAT1, MDM2) and tumor suppressor genes (e.g., p53) in cancer-related inflammation. Natural products that target these molecular mediators have shown anticancer and anti-inflammatory activities in preclinical and clinical studies. Sesquiterpenoids (STs), a class of novel plant-derived secondary metabolites have attracted great interest in recent years because of their diversity in chemical structures and pharmacological activities. At present, we and other investigators have found that dimeric sesquiterpenoids (DSTs) may exert enhanced activity and binding affinity to molecular targets due to the increased number of alkylating centers and improved conformational flexibility and lipophilicity. Here, we focus our discussion on the activities and mechanisms of action of STs and DSTs in treating inflammation and cancer as well as their structure-activity relationships.
Animals ; Anti-Inflammatory Agents ; pharmacology ; Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Inflammation ; drug therapy ; etiology ; NF-kappa B ; antagonists & inhibitors ; NFATC Transcription Factors ; antagonists & inhibitors ; Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; etiology ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-mdm2 ; antagonists & inhibitors ; physiology ; Sesquiterpenes ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Structure-Activity Relationship