Health Benefits of Chicoric acid
zhion@zhion.com     April 10, 2009
What is Chicoric acid?
Chicoric acid, a dicaffeoyl ester, is the most active compound in Echinacea
pupurea. It is also produced in lettuce especially under stress, such as heat
shock, chilling etc. [5] Researchers from Chungbuk National University is
developing a cultivation method for this compound using airlift bioreactors.
[4]

What are the potential health benefits of chicoric acid?
Recently, Touseh D and co-workers from Université Montpellier 1, France,
reported the effects of chicoric acid purified from Cichorium intybus on
glucose uptake and insulin secretion in cell studies. Chicoric acid is
considered as a candidate for diabetes. [6]

HIV integrase catalyzes the integration of HIV DNA copy into the host cell
DNA, which is essential for the production of progeny viruses. L-Chicoric
acid and dicaffeoylquinic acids, isolated from plants, are well known potent
inhibitors of HIV integrase. The common structural features of these
inhibitors are caffeic acid derivatives connected to tartaric acid or quinic
acid through ester bonds. [3]

As discussed above, L-Chicoric acid is an inhibitor of human
immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) integrase in vitro and of HIV-1
replication in tissue culture. [1] The addition of L-chicoric acid to either
Zidovudine or protease inhibitor improved upon the observed anti-HIV
activity of either compound alone. Doses of both Zidovudine and protease
inhibitor could be reduced by more than 33% for an equivalent anti-HIV
effect if L-chicoric acid was added. [2]

Reference
[1] Liu J. Pharmacology of oleanolic acid and ursolic acid. J
Ethnopharmacol. 1995 Dec 1;49(2):57-68. [2] Novotný L, et al, Ursolic acid:
an anti-tumorigenic and chemopreventive activity. Minireview. Neoplasma.
2001;48(4):241-6. [3] Ikeda Y, et al, Ursolic acid: an anti- and
pro-inflammatory triterpenoid. Mol Nutr Food Res. 2008 Jan;52(1):26-42. [4]
Manu KA, Kuttan G. Ursolic acid induces apoptosis by activating p53 and
caspase-3 gene expressions and suppressing NF-kappaB mediated
activation of bcl-2 in B16F-10 melanoma cells. Int Immunopharmacol. 2008
Jul;8(7):974-81. Epub 2008 Mar 26. [5] Oh MM, Carey EE, Rajashekar CB.
Environmental stresses induce health-promoting phytochemicals in lettuce.
Plant Physiol Biochem. 2009 Feb 28. [6] Tousch D, Lajoix AD, Hosy E,
Azay-Milhau J, Ferrare K, Jahannault C, Cros G, Petit P. Chicoric acid, a
new compound able to enhance insulin release and glucose uptake.
Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2008 Dec 5;377(1):131-5. Epub 2008 Oct
1.
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