Alantolactone: A sesquiterpene lactone with diverse pharmacological effects

Alantolactone (Ala) is a sesquiterpene lactone that can be isolated from many herbal plants belonging to Asteraceae. Besides the antimicrobial activities against bacteria, fungi and viruses, Ala has also demonstrated significant anti‐inflammatory effects in various models by inhibiting NF‐κB and MAPKs to decrease the pro‐inflammatory cytokines such as IL‐1β, IL‐6 and TNF‐α. The antitumor effects of Ala have been demonstrated in vitro and in vivo via inducing intrinsic apoptosis, oxidative stress, ER stress, cell cycle arrest and inhibiting autophagy and STAT3 phosphorylation, which are also involved in its combination or synergy with other antitumor drugs. Ala also has neuroprotective activity through attenuating oxidative stress and inflammation, besides its modulation of glucose and lipid metabolism. This review summarizes the recent advances of the pharmacological effects of Ala, including anti‐inflammatory, antitumor, antimicrobial, neuroprotective activities, as well as the underlying mechanisms. Ala might be employed as a potential lead to develop drugs for multiple diseases.

• Publication year

  2021

• Venue

  Chemical Biology and Drug Design

• Publication date

  2021-10-08

• Fields of study

  Medicine, Chemistry

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1111/cbdd.13972PMID 34624172
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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