Polymerization and galloylation: two important aspects for antiproliferative properties of procyanidin-rich natural extracts

Abstract

5 pages, 1 table. ; Natural polyphenolic compounds from plants and fruits have been reported to be potent antioxidants and to present antitumoral properties. The difficulty to clearly identify structure/antitumoral activity of this family of compounds makes difficult to optimize the formulation of combinations of polyphenolic extracts from different plants or fruits to achieve the best antitumoral potency. Recent advances have been achieved in this field from the exhaustive characterization of polyphenolic extracts with different degree of polymerization and percentage of galloylation. Here we review the results obtained in this field from our team (Lizarraga et al., 2007; Lozano et al., 2006; Lozano et al., 2005; Matito et al., 2003; Tourino et al., 2008; Tourino et al., 2005) that relate degree of polymerization and galloylation to radical scavenging capacity, tumor cell proliferation inhibition and induction of apoptosis. From this review we concluded that natural polyphenolic extract with high degree of polymerization and galloylation will present the higher antiproliferative and induction of apoptosis capacities. ; This work was supported by Spanish Government and the European Union FEDER funds (SAF2005-01627 and AGL2004-07579-C04-03/ALI) and ISCIII-RTICC (RD06/0020/0046); Generalitat de Catalunya (2005SGR00204; 2006ITT-10007). ; Peer reviewed