Cucurbitacine

Authors: Prof. Dr. med. Peter Altmeyer, Prof. Dr. med. Martina Bacharach-Buhles

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Last updated on: 29.10.2020

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Definition
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Group of tetracyclic, steroidal bitter compounds(triterpene), which are usually present in plants in glycosidic form. Cucurbitacins are heat-resistant, hardly water-soluble substances; they are thus preserved when vegetables are cooked.

Occurrence
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Cucurbitacins are mainly found in cucumbers (Cucumis) and cucurbits (Cucurbitaceae), in some cruciferous plants (Brassicaceae) and in the Japanese Basidiomycetes Hebeloma vinosophyllum. About 200 derivatives of the cucurbitacin are known.

Effects
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Cucurbitacins have a strong laxative, diuretic, antihypertensive, antirheumatic and antiproliferative (experimental) effect. All cucurbitacins are toxic in appropriate concentrations.

They have insecticidal and antimycotic effects. Of great scientific interest is their antiproliferative effect, which has been experimentally proven in numerous tumour cell lines (chondrosarcoma, melanoma, bonchial carcinoma, colon carcinoma). Cucurbitacins inhibit the JAK-STAT3 and MAPK signalling pathways, which play a central role in apoptosis and survival of tumour cells. They also inhibit the migration and invasiveness of tumour cells.

Literature
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  1. Abbas S et al.(2013) The cucurbitacins E, D and I: investigation of their cytotoxicity towards human chondrosarcoma SW 1353 cell line and their biotransformation in man liver. Toxicol Lett 216(2-3):189-199.
  2. Cai Y et al (2015) Cucurbitacins: A Systematic Review of the Phytochemistry and Anticancer Activity. On J Chin Med 43:1331-1350.
  3. Chawech R et al (2015) Cucurbitacins from the Leaves of Citrullus colocynthis (L.) Schrad. Molecules 20:18001-18015.
  4. Chen X et al (2012) Biological activities and potential molecular targets of cucurbitacins: a focus on cancer. Anticancer Drugs 23:777-787.
  5. Guo J et al (2015) The anti-melanoma efficiency of the intratumoral injection of cucurbitacin-loaded sustained release carriers: in situ-forming implants. AAPS PharmSciTech 16:973-985.
  6. Silva IT et al (2016) Cytotoxic effects of natural and semisynthetic cucurbitacins on lung cancer cell line A549. Invest New Drugs 34:139-148.
  7. Wang Y et al (2014) Cucurbitacin IIb exhibits anti-inflammatory activity through modulating multiple cellular behaviors of mouse lymphocytes.PLoS One 9:e89751.

Incoming links (1)

Colocynthidis fructus;

Outgoing links (2)

Bitter substances; Terpenes;