Isolation and characterization of a cyclic
hydroxamic acid from a pollen extract, which
inhibits cancerous cell growth in vitro

Zhang X, Habib FK, Ross M, Burger U, Lewenstein A, Rose K, Jaton JC

One fraction, designated FV-7, in the water soluble ingredient of the pollen extract Cernilton was found to be inhibitory to the growth of a prostate cancer cell line. Characterization of FV-7 by high-resolution mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance identified the fraction as hydroxamic acid, 2,4-dihydroxy-2H-1,4-benzoxazin-3(4H)-one (DIBOA). To confirm this further, we synthesized an authentic sample of DIBOA and found subsequently that the synthetic DIBOA was structurally indistinguishable from FV-7. Furthermore, in a separate experiment we compared the in vitro effects of FV-7 and DIBOA on the growth of a prostate cancer cell line and found that in both cases the effect was inhibitory and that the inhibition curves obtained for both compounds were virtually identical. Read the Full Study

PMID: 7861421, UI: 95165424

Department of Medical Biochemistry
University of Geneva, Switzerland

J Med Chem 1995 Feb 17;38(4):735-8