Therapeutic Potential of Ursonic Acid: Comparison with Ursolic Acid.
Biomolecules
; 10(11)2020 11 02.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-921178
ABSTRACT
Plants have been used as drugs to treat human disease for centuries. Ursonic acid (UNA) is a naturally occurring pentacyclic triterpenoid extracted from certain medicinal herbs such as Ziziphus jujuba. Since the pharmacological effects and associated mechanisms of UNA are not well-known, in this work, we attempt to introduce the therapeutic potential of UNA with a comparison to ursolic acid (ULA), a well-known secondary metabolite, for beneficial effects. UNA has a keto group at the C-3 position, which may provide a critical difference for the varied biological activities between UNA and ULA. Several studies previously showed that UNA exerts pharmaceutical effects similar to, or stronger than, ULA, with UNA significantly decreasing the survival and proliferation of various types of cancer cells. UNA has potential to exert inhibitory effects in parasitic protozoa that cause several tropical diseases. UNA also exerts other potential effects, including antihyperglycemic, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, and antioxidant activities. Of note, a recent study highlighted the suppressive potential of UNA against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Molecular modifications of UNA may enhance bioavailability, which is crucial for in vivo and clinical studies. In conclusion, UNA has promising potential to be developed in anticancer and antiprotozoan pharmaceuticals. In-depth investigations may increase the possibility of UNA being developed as a novel reagent for chemotherapy.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Antiviral Agents
/
Triterpenes
Type of study:
Prognostic study
Topics:
Traditional medicine
Limits:
Animals
/
Humans
Language:
English
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
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