Eurycomanone

Molecules. 2014 Sep 16;19(9):14649-66.

Eurycomanone and eurycomanol from Eurycoma longifolia Jack as regulators of signaling pathways involved in proliferation, cell death and inflammation.[Pubmed: 25230121]

Eurycomanone and eurycomanol are two quassinoids from the roots of Eurycoma longifolia Jack.
METHODS AND RESULTS:
The aim of this study was to assess the bioactivity of these compounds in Jurkat and K562 human leukemia cell models compared to peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy donors. Both Eurycomanone and eurycomanol inhibited Jurkat and K562 cell viability and proliferation without affecting healthy cells. Interestingly, Eurycomanone inhibited NF-κB signaling through inhibition of IκBα phosphorylation and upstream mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling, but not eurycomanol.
CONCLUSIONS:
In conclusion, both quassinoids present differential toxicity towards leukemia cells, and the presence of the α,β-unsaturated ketone in Eurycomanone could be prerequisite for the NF-κB inhibition.

Phytomedicine. 2012 Jan 15;19(2):138-44.

Eurycomanone suppresses expression of lung cancer cell tumor markers, prohibitin, annexin 1 and endoplasmic reticulum protein 28.[Pubmed: 21903368]

Bioactive compounds from the medicinal plant, Eurycoma longifolia Jack have been shown to promote anti-proliferative effects on various cancer cell lines.
METHODS AND RESULTS:
Here we examined the effects of purified Eurycomanone, a quassinoid found in Eurycoma longifolia Jack extract, on the expression of selected genes of the A549 lung cancer cells. Eurycomanone inhibited A549 lung cancer cell proliferation in a dose-dependent manner at concentrations ranging from 5 to 20 μg/ml. The concentration that inhibited 50% of cell growth (GI(50)) was 5.1 μg/ml. The anti-proliferative effects were not fully reversible following the removal of Eurycomanone, in which 30% of cell inhibition still remained (p<0.0001, T-test). At 8 μg/ml (GI(70)), Eurycomanone suppressed anchorage-independent growth of A549 cells by >25% (p<0.05, T-test, n=8) as determined using soft agar colony formation assay. Cisplatin, a chemotherapy drug used for the treatment of non small cell lung cancer on the other hand, inhibited A549 cells proliferation at concentrations ranging from 0.2 μg/ml to 15 μg/ml with a GI(50) of 0.58 μg/ml. The treatment with Eurycomanone reduced the abundance expression of the lung cancer markers, heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein (hnRNP) A2/B1, p53 tumor suppressor protein and other cancer-associated genes including prohibitin (PHB), annexin 1 (ANX1) and endoplasmic reticulum protein 28 (ERp28) but not the house keeping genes. The mRNA expressions of all genes with the exception of PHB were significantly downregulated, 72 h after treatment (p<0.05, T-test, n=9). These findings suggest that Eurycomanone at viable therapeutic concentrations of 5-20 μg/ml exhibited significant anti-proliferative and anti-clonogenic cell growth effects on A549 lung cancer cells.
CONCLUSIONS:
The treatment also resulted in suppression of the lung cancer cell tumor markers and several known cancer cell growth-associated genes.

J Nat Med. 2014 Apr;68(2):402-6.

Effect of eurycomanone on cytochrome P450 isoforms CYP1A2, CYP2A6, CYP2C8, CYP2C9, CYP2C19, CYP2E1 and CYP3A4 in vitro.[Pubmed: 23881640]

METHODS AND RESULTS:
Eurycomanone, an active constituent isolated from Eurycoma longifolia Jack, was examined for modulatory effects on cytochrome P450 (CYP) isoforms CYP1A2, CYP2A6, CYP2C8, CYP2C9, CYP2C19, CYP2E1 and CYP3A4 using in vitro assays. The IC50 value was determined to assess the potencies of modulation for each CYP isoform. Our results indicated that Eurycomanone did not potently inhibit any of the CYP isoforms investigated, with IC50 values greater than 250 μg/ml.
CONCLUSIONS:
Hence there appears to be little likelihood of drug-herb interaction between Eurycomanone or herbal products with high content of this compound and CYP drug substrates via CYP inhibition.

Cancer Cell Int. 2009 Jun 10;9:16.

Eurycomanone induce apoptosis in HepG2 cells via up-regulation of p53.[Pubmed: 19508737]

Eurycomanone is a cytotoxic compound found in Eurycoma longifolia Jack. Previous studies had noted the cytotoxic effect against various cancer cell lines. The aim of this study is to investigate the cytotoxicity against human hepato carcinoma cell in vitro and the mode of action.
METHODS AND RESULTS:
The cytotoxicity of Eurycomanone was evaluated using MTT assay and the mode of cell death was detected by Hoechst 33258 nuclear staining and flow cytometry with Annexin-V/propidium iodide double staining. The protein expression Bax, Bcl-2, p53 and cytochrome C were studied by flow cytometry using a spesific antibody conjugated fluorescent dye to confirm the up-regulation of p53 and Bax in cancer cells.The findings suggested that Eurycomanone was cytotoxic on cancerous liver cell, HepG2 and less toxic on normal cells Chang's liver and WLR-68. Furthermore, various methods proved that apoptosis was the mode of death in Eurycomanone-treated HepG2 cells. The characteristics of apoptosis including chromatin condensation, DNA fragmentation and apoptotic bodies were found following Eurycomanone treatment. This study also found that apoptotic process triggered by Eurycomanone involved the up-regulation of p53 tumor suppressor protein. The up-regulation of p53 was followed by the increasing of pro-apoptotic Bax and decreasing of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2. The increased of cytochrome C levels in cytosol also results in induction of apoptosis.
CONCLUSIONS:
The data suggest that Eurycomanone was cytotoxic on HepG2 cells by inducing apoptosis through the up-regulation of p53 and Bax, and down-regulation of Bcl-2.