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Potential cancer chemopreventive agents from Arbutus unedo.

Carcache-Blanco EJ, Cuendet M, Park EJ, Su BN, Rivero-Cruz JF, Farnsworth NR, Pezzuto JM, Douglas Kinghorn A

Program for Collaborative Research in the Pharmaceutical Sciences and Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612, USA.

A phytochemical study of the petroleum ether and ethyl acetate extracts of the entire plant of Arbutus unedo led to the isolation of a new sterol, 7beta-hydroxystigmast-4-en-3-one (1), and nine known compounds of the flavan, steroid, and terpenoid types. The structure of 1 was determined by spectroscopic data interpretation in combination with molecular modeling calculations. The absolute stereochemistry of C-7 was assigned as S for compound 1 based on the obtained CD spectral data. Activity in the JB6 cell transformation assay was found for pomolic acid 3-acetate (4). All isolates obtained were evaluated in a cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibition assay.

Published 28 April 2006 in Nat Prod Res, 20(4): 327-34.
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