Chemopreventive lariciresinol

As part of a search for chemopreventive agents from natural products, nearly 400 plant extracts were tested for their potential to induce human promyelocytic leukemia (HL-60) cell differentiation. Seventeen of the plant extracts were active, with ED50 values of 4 pg/mL [139], One of most potent was an extract derived from Dirca occidentalis (Thymelaeaceae), which gave an ED50 of 0.14 pg/mL, and from it genkwanin, (+)-lariciresinol and sitoindoside II were isolated as active principles by a bioassay-guided fractionation. The ED50 values of the compounds were 18.3, 1.1 and 0.069 pM, respectively. 

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