title: Chemistry and cancer preventing activities of ginseng saponins and some related triterpenoid compounds.
abstract: More than 25 dammarane-type tetracyclic triterpenoid saponins have been isolated from ginseng, the root and rhizome of Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer (Araliaceae). The genuine sapogenins of those saponins, 20(S)-protopanaxa-diol and -triol, were identified as 20(S) 12beta-hydroxy-and 20(S) 6alpha,12beta-dihydroxy-dammarenediol-II, respectively. There are two types of preparations from ginseng: white ginseng prepared by drying after peelling off and red ginseng prepared by steaming and drying. Some partly deglycosylated saponins such as ginsenoside Rh-1, Rh-2, and Rg-3 are obtained from red ginseng as artifacts produced during steaming. Several workers studied the metabolic transformation by human intestinal bacteria after oral administration of ginsenoside Rb-1 and Rb-2 and found that the stepwise deglyco-sylation yielded compound K and finally 20(S)-protopanaxadiol. Ginsenoside Rg-1 was converted into 20(S)-protopanaxatriol via ginsenoside Rh-1. Yun et al. in Korea conducted the epidemiological case-control studies of ginseng and suggested its cancer preventing activities. Kitagawa et al. demonstrated in vitro that ginsenosides, especially 20(R)-ginsenoside Rg-3, specifically inhibited cancer cell invasion and metastasis. Azuma et al. found that ginsenoside Rb-2 inhibited tumor angiogenesis, and Kikuchi et al. reported that ginsenoside Rh-2 inhibited the human ovarian cancer growth in nude mice. Recently, ginsenoside Rg-3 was produced as an anti-angiogenic anti-cancer drug in China. The aforementioned reports suggest that less glycosylated protopanaxadiol derivatives are effective in cancer prevention. Apart from Ginseng tetracyclic triterpenoid saponins, some oleanane-type pentacyclic triterpenoid compounds showed the anti-carcinogenic activity in the two-stage anti-cancer-promotion experiments in vitro and in vivo.
authors.affiliation: Shibata Laboratory of Natural Medicinal Materials c/o Minophagen Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shibata
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D015394:Molecular Structure; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005894:Panax / Q000737:chemistry; D012502:Sapogenins / Q000737:chemistry; D012503:Saponins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014315:Triterpenes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic; D012502:Sapogenins; D012503:Saponins; D014315:Triterpenes