Modulation of Cancer-Related Signaling by Secondary Metabolites From Salvia Officinalis and Zingiber Officinale

Salvia officinalis and Zingiber officinale commonly known as sage and ginger, respectively, are two of the historically known cultivated plants and indigenous medicine since millennia. In 1985, the German Commission E approved the use of sage internally and externally for a number of medical concerns included dyspepsia and inflammation. In 1995, the European-American Phytomedicine Coalition (EAPC) filed a citizen petition with the FDA for ginger to be reviewed as an OTC drug for anti-nausea and motion sickness in the United States. In the United States, sage leaf and ginger root are regulated as food components and as dietary supplements. The EtOH extracts of S. officinalis and Z. officinale have shown substantial activities against a panel of luciferase reporter gene assays that assesses the activity of many of the major cancer-related signaling pathways. Bioassay-guided fractionation of their EtOH extracts and rapid comparison with their recognized markers has led to the identification of carnosic acid and 6-shogaol as the main active secondary metabolites from S. officinalis and Z. officinale, respectively. Since the patterns of activities of the identified compounds were similar to those of the crude extracts it suggests that these two compounds were responsible for the majority of the activity against cancer-related signaling pathways exhibited by these plants.

This work was supported in part by a contract from the University of Mississippi Medical Center Cancer Institute and the USDA Agricultural Research Service Specific Cooperative Agreement No. 58 – 6408 – 2-0009.