Sophoflavescenol is a prenylated flavonol, which shows great inhibitory activity with IC50 of 0.013 μM against Phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE5), and also inhibits RLAR, HRAR, AGE, BACE1, AChE and BChE with IC50s of 0.30 µM, 0.17 µM, 17.89 µg/mL, 10.98 µM, 8.37 µM and 8.21 µM, respectively.
Sophoflavescenol shows cytotoxicity against human leukaemia (HL-60), Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC), and human lung adenocarcinoma epithelial (A549) cells. Sophoflavescenol exerts notable anti-inflammatory activity by inhibiting nitric oxide generation and tert-butylhydroperoxide-induced ROS generation rather than inhibiting nuclear factor kappa B activation in RAW 264.7 cells[1]. Sophoflavescenol exhibits remarkable inhibition of RLAR activity with an IC50 value of 0.30 µM, compared with 0.07 µM for epalrestat, a well known ARI. Sophoflavescenol also shows potent inhibitory activity with an IC50 value of 0.17 µM, comparable to epalrestat (0.15 µM) in the HRAR assay. In the AGE assay, sophoflavescenol (IC50 17.89 µg/mL) is a more potent inhibitor of AGE formation than aminoguanidine (IC50 81.05 µg/mL). Sophoflavescenol exerts both potent AChE and BChE inhibitory effects with respective IC50 values of 8.37 and 8.21 µM. Sophoflavescenol also exhibits good BACE1 inhibition in a dose-dependent manner with an IC50 value of 10.98 µM[2]. Sophoflavescenol is a mixed inhibitor (Ki=0.005 μM) against cGMP PDE5. Sophoflavescenol shows greatest selectivity toward PDE5, 31.5- and 196.2-fold over PDE3 and PDE4, respectively[3].
Sophoflavescenol exerts potent in vivo antitumor activity by tumor growth inhibition in the LLC tumor model as well as apoptotic activity by caspase-3 activation in HL-60 cells[1].
[1]. Jung HA, et al. Anti-tumorigenic activity of sophoflavescenol against Lewis lung carcinoma in vitro and in vivo. Arch Pharm Res. 2011 Dec;34(12):2087-99. [2]. Jung HA, et al. Antidiabetic complications and anti-Alzheimer activities of sophoflavescenol, a prenylated flavonol from Sophora flavescens, and its structure-activity relationship. Phytother Res. 2011 May;25(5):709-15. [3]. Shin HJ, et al. A prenylated flavonol, sophoflavescenol: a potent and selective inhibitor of cGMP phosphodiesterase 5. Bioorg Med Chem Lett. 2002 Sep 2;12(17):2313-6.