Isosilybin is a flavanolignan found in the extract of
S. marianum fruits with antioxidant and anticancer activities.
1,2,3 It inhibits lipid peroxidation in rat liver microsomes (IC
50 = 32 μM) and reduces ADP/Fe
3+-induced malondialdehyde (MDA) production and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release in rat hepatocytes.
1 Isosilybin inhibits the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), MDA and LDH release, and reduction in total antioxidant capacity induced by amyloid-β (25-35) (Aβ25-35) in HT-22 hippocampal cells.
2 It also increases protein and mRNA expression of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), glutathione S-transferase (GST), and the aldo-keto reductases (AKCR) 1C1 and AKCR1C2 in HT-22 cells.
In vivo, isosilybin (50 and 100 mg/kg) reduces tumor volume and increases tumor cell apoptosis in a DU145 prostate cancer mouse xenograft model.
3 It also reduces expression of the tumor angiogenesis markers CD31, nestin, VEGF, VEGFR1, VEGFR2, phospho-Akt, and HIF-1α in tumor tissue without reducing blood vessel count in non-cancerous liver, lung, and kidney tissue in DU145 tumor-bearing mice.
