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Natural Product Research
Formerly Natural Product Letters
Volume 35, 2021 - Issue 24
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Short Communications

Catechin from Burkea africana Hook. Exhibits in vitro inhibition of human telomerase activity

, , , , &
Pages 6175-6179 | Received 10 Apr 2020, Accepted 14 Sep 2020, Published online: 14 Oct 2020
 

Abstract

There has been an increasing interest in natural products with the ability to inhibit telomerase activity in tumour and cancerous cells. Green tea catechins have been reported previously to inhibit telomerase, but it was unknown whether catechins from other plant sources could exhibit this property. We isolated 2-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-3,4-dihydro-2H-chromene-3,5,7-triol (catechin without the presence of a galloyl unit) from the stem bark of B. africana, and tested its ability to inhibit recombinant, partially purified telomerase produced in rabbit reticulocyte lysates. The B. africana catechin inhibited the telomere extension activity of telomerase with an IC50 of approximately 4.7 µg/ml. This finding indicates that the galloyl unit may not be solely responsible for the inhibition of telomerase activity by catechins. This is the first report of the telomerase-inhibiting potential of catechin from the stem bark of B. africana.

Graphical Abstract

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

The authors acknowledge funding support from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (PJT#148926).

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