Butein

Butein is a plant polyphenol, tetrahydroxychalcone that inhibits nuclear factor (NF)-κB (Yang et al; Pandey et al. 2007). Butein has been shown to prevent phosphorylation and degradation of TNF-dependent IκBα, an inhibitory subunit of NF-κB (IC₅₀ = 38 μM; Orlikova et al.). Butein also inhibits 5-lipoxygenase (IC₅₀ = 0.01 μM; Sogawa et al.), the enoyl-acyl-carrier protein reductase of Plasmodium falciparum (Ki = 2.97 μM; Sharma et al.), angiotensin-converting enzyme (IC₅₀ = 0.73 mM; Bonesi et al.), and SRC kinase (Pandey et al. 2009).

METABOLISM

• Inhibits iron-induced lipid peroxidation in rat brain homogenate in a concentration-dependent manner (Cheng et al.).

CANCER RESEARCH

• Inhibits TNF-α-induced invasion of human lung adenocarcinoma H1299 cells (Pandey et al. 2007; Gupta et al.).
• Inhibits growth in human hepatoma cancer cell lines HepG2 and Hep3B, by inducing G2/M phase arrest (Moon et al.; Gupta et al.).
• Inhibits testosterone-induced proliferation in breast cancer cells (Wang et al.)

IMMUNOLOGY

• Exhibits anti-inflammatory properties in a mouse macrophage cell line by inhibiting LPS-induced expression of iNOS (Lee et al.).