Introduction of Sanguinarine
English Name: Sanguinarine
CAS No.: 2447-54-3
Molecular Fomular: C20H14NO4
Sanguinarine is a toxic quaternary ammonium salt from the group of benzylisoquinoline alkaloids. It is extracted from some plants, including bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis), Mexican prickly poppy Argemone mexicana, Chelidonium majus and Macleaya cordata. It is also found in the root, stem and leaves of the poppy but not in the capsule.
Sanguinarine is a toxin that kills animal cells through its action on the Na+-K+-ATPase transmembrane protein. Epidemic dropsy is a disease that results from ingesting sanguinarine.
| Product Name |
Macleaya Cordata Extract |
| Botanical Source |
Macleaya cordata (Willd.) R. Br. |
| Plant Part Used |
Pod,100% Natural |
| Type of Product |
Standard Extract |
| |
|
|
| Analysis Items |
Specifications |
| Appearance |
Fine Orange Red Powder |
| Identification by HPLC |
Corresponds qualitatively to the comparison |
| Odor and taste |
Characteristic |
| Particle Size |
98% through 60 Mesh |
| Solubility |
Soluble in Water |
| |
|
|
| Assay |
NLT Sanguinarine 30% |
| Chelerythrine |
| Loss on Drying |
NMT 8.0% |
| Ash Content |
NMT 5.0% |
| Extract Solvents |
Grain Alcohol & Water |
| Solvent Residues |
NMT 0.5% |
If applied to the skin, sanguinarine kills cells and may destroy tissue. In turn, the bleeding wound may produce a massive scab, called an eschar. For this reason, sanguinarine is termed anescharotic.
Preliminary pre-clinical in vitro and in vivo studies have demonstrated that sanguinarine causes apoptosis in human cancer cells, and recommend study of sanguinarine as a potential cancer treatment.A study conducted by the Case Western Reserve University in 2000 found that low doses of sanguinarine caused this apoptosis in cancerous human epidermoid carcinoma cells while little reaction from normal human skin cells was observed. However, no products containing sanguinarine are currently approved by the FDA for the treatment of cancer; the FDA warns that unapproved bloodroot preparations are ineffective and dangerous.
Sanguinarine Suppresses Prostate Tumor Growth and Inhibits Survivin Expression
Prostate cancer is a frequently occurring disease and is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths of men in the United States. Current treatments have proved inadequate in curing or controlling prostate cancer, and a search for agents for the management of this disease is urgently needed. Survivin plays an important role in both progression of castration-resistant prostate cancer and resistance to chemotherapy. Altered expression of survivin in prostate cancer cells is associated with cancer progression, drug/radiation resistance, poor prognosis, and short patient survival. In the present study, the authors performed a cell-based rapid screen of the Prestwick Chemical Library consisting of 1120 Food and Drug Administration-approved compounds with known safety and bioavailability in humans to identify potential inhibitors of survivin and anticancer agents for prostate cancer. Sanguinarine, a benzophenanthridine alkaloid derived primarily from the bloodroot plant, was identified as a novel inhibitor of survivin that selectively kills prostate cancer cells over "normal" prostate epithelial cells. The authors found that sanguinarine inhibits survivin protein expression through protein degradation via the ubiquitin-proteasome system. Sanguinarine induces apoptosis and inhibits growth of human prostate cancer cells and in vivotumor formation. Administration of sanguinarine, beginning 3 days after ectopic implantation of DU145 human prostate cancer cells, reduces both tumor weight and volume. In addition, sanguinarine sensitized paclitaxel-mediated growth inhibition and apoptosis, offering a potential therapeutic strategy for overcoming taxol resistance. These results suggest that sanguinarine may be developed as an agent either alone or in combination with taxol for treatment of prostate cancer overexpressing survivin.
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