Patent Abstract:
the invention relates to the use of flavonoid glycosides and steroidal glycosides from hosta or their derivatives as functional ingredients in functional food , otc and pharmaceutical composition to prevent or treat cancer . the invention further includes methods for making and methods for using the invention .

Detailed Description:
the present invention is based on the discovery of novel flavonoid glycosides and steroidal glycosides from hosta that exhibit anti - cancer activities . the present invention is applicable , but not limited , to the extraction , isolation and simultaneous determination of both flavonoid and steroidal glycosides from plants , fresh or dried , and other potential natural sources of nutraceuticals . this procedure is also fully applicable to qualitative and quantitative analysis of different forms of herbal supplementations , such as powders , tinctures , suspensions , solutions , syrups , capsules , tablets , etc . the biological material , such as plant , should be collected and stored under properly designed and controlled conditions , to ensure the consistency in the content of active components . measures should be applied to avoid the presence of any harmful contaminants , such as pesticides , herbicides , heavy metals , etc . if drying is recommended , the chemical and enzymatic sensitivity of the active components should be considered . thus the avoidance of exposure to light , elevated temperatures , oxygen presence or prolonged storage in aqueous solution prone to facilitate biochemical degradation should be considered and applied , if necessary . prior to the extraction procedure sample should be prepared by chopping into small pieces , blending , grounding or crushing , in order to improve the contact of solvent with the extracted matter . in the present invention , for analytical purposes , the extraction of the polar phytochemicals such as bioflavonoids or saponins from the plant or marine matter or their formulations is achieved by the application of water or aqueous solutions of a variety of polar solvents such as lower alcohols , ketones , or acetonitrile . the elevated temperature and repeated extraction procedures might be used to improve the extraction effectiveness . the effectiveness can be further enhanced by stirring , shaking or sonication . plant or marine matter consist of a multitude of components , both polar and nonpolar . in order to provide a simple , sensitive and reliable method for analyzing for phytochemicals , such as flavonoid and steroidal glycosides , the sample should be treated to remove contaminants and other undesired components that would interfere with the analysis . such a removal , for analytical purposes , can be achieved by precipitation of some undesired compounds by means of concentration of the extract volume and / or refrigeration . further removal of interfering less polar compounds can be achieved by subjecting the crude extract to liquid - liquid extraction with a water immiscible organic solvent , such as alkanes , cycloalkanes , ethers or lower esters . the purification of sample from polar components such as inorganic salts , simple sugars , and aminoacids that could interfere with the final analysis of the phytochemicals of interest can be achieved , for analytical purposes , by application of open column or flash column chromatography using a variety of different stationary phases , such as polyamide resin or a weakly acidic cation exchange resin , such as amberlite irc - 50 , and mixture of water and lower alcohols as mobile phase . such separation can be easily monitored by hplc or tlc with a variety of detection methods . the column chromatography may also utilize other modes , such as normal phase chromatography with application of silica gel or alumina or gel filtration approach . thus such extracted and pre - purified sample can be then subjected to qualitative and quantitative analysis by the application of reverse phase hplc in an isocratic or preferably gradient mode . the combined application of two independent and powerful detection techniques of electrospray mass spectrometry and diode array spectroscopy allow for the selective and simultaneous identification of the individual components , such as phytochemicals of interest , contained in the pre - purified extract . the application of electrospray mass spectrometry detection for the thermally liable compounds prevents creation of artifacts that may lead to misinterpretation of the instrumental data that was frequently possible with the previously used ionization techniques . it was found that the application of negative ion mode yields patterns that are more informative than other techniques , decreasing at the same time the risk of the artifact formation and data misinterpretation . furthermore , the post - column application of triethylamine enhances the sensitivity of this method of detection . fig1 details the instrumental setup . the sample preparation combined with the applied detection system presented in this invention yield sensitive and extensive qualitative information about the individual components of the analyzed extract , such as , for example flavonoid and steroidal glycosides . this information includes , but is not limited , to molecular weight , number and type of glycoside substituents , and from the diode array spectroscopy absorption patterns , this technique allows for differentiation amongst different types of aglycones present in the components of the extract . the application of the presented procedure in combination with the use of collisionally induced dissociation can produce mass spectral patterns that can allow structural data to be deduced . those skilled in the art will recognize that mile 162 fragment could be related to a loss of hexose ( e . g . glucose ), that of m / e 146 fragment from the loss of 6 - deoxyhexoses ( e . g . rhamnose ), and that of m / e 132 fragment from the loss of pentose ( e . g . xylose ) ( see fig2 and fig3 ). as a very educational and powerful example for the application of this invention can serve the application of the present procedure for the extraction , purification and analysis of flavonoid and steroidal glycosides from hosta leaves . thus this invention has allowed for the first time simultaneously identify a total of twenty glycosides , both from the flavonoid and steroidal class ( table 1 , fig4 ). among the identified glycosidic compounds were all eight kaempferol glycosides , previously reported by j . budzianowski ( structures of which are shown in fig5 ), and 4 steroidal glycosides , previously reported in the literature by the japanese researchers for the extracts of hosta rhizomers ( structures of which are shown in fig6 ). this procedure , with application of collisionaly induced dissociation also allowed for the identification of eight new , previously not detected in the hosta plant extracts clycosidic compounds , seven of which were identified as steroidal tetra , penta , and hexaglycosides , and one as kaempferol tetraglycoside ( table 2 , fig7 ). these novel compounds can be used for treatment of cancer . particularly , the steroidal glycosides can be used to treat chronic myelogenous leukemia , liver , and lung cancer since these compounds showed anti - proliferation activity against cell lines from these diseases ( fig1 ). the flavonoid glycoside mixture f2 - 2 , and the individual compounds contained in it , can be used to treat lung cancer as shown in fig1 . treatment in accordance with the present invention can be accomplished by oral or intravenous administration along with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier such as rice syrup solids , maltodextrin , and hydroxypropylcellulose , or in a food , to a patient having cancer . orally - administrable dosage forms of the invention may include , but are not limited to , capsules , tablets , powders and liquids . the amount of active ingredient to be administered may vary depending upon the type of cancer and the body weight of the individual being treated . dosages of the active ingredient may be in the range of 1 mg / kg per day to 30 mg / kg / day . these dosages should be continued until no detection of cancer is determined by standard means . another aspect of the present invention is a method as disclosed which utilizes oral or intravenous administration . however , those in the art will recognize that many avenues of administration are possible . for instance , administration of drug may be via capsule , tablet , solution , sachet , suspension , intravenously , orally , intramuscularly , including implantation into the tumor itself , topically or parenterally . the present invention is believed to be utilizable with other types of cancers other than those described herein as would be known to those skilled in the art . the application of the presented method of extraction , purification and separation can be easily adopted to a preparation of pre - purified and standardized mixtures of phytochemicals or the individual compounds in a pure form for additional structural elucidation and / or conformation ( e . g ., by means of nmr spectroscopy or x - ray analysis ) as well as for their screening for biological activity . the presented invention does not require any additional steps , such as chemical derivation . however , it can be combined with either an analysis of partly and / or fully hydrolyzed material , as well as consecutive derivation of glycosides , and subjecting these samples to further hplc / msd / dad or other methods of analysis . applications of appropriate standards allow for an easy , sensitive and highly reliable method of quantitative analysis , and therefore , can be widely utilized for standardization of nutraceuticals . thus the presented procedure represents a much more industrially advantageous method for the execution of these analyses , particularly in the field of research , standardization and quality control of herbal and marine matter , or any of their nutraceutical supplement formulations . the procedure for extraction , pre - purification and analysis of hosta leaves is depicted in fig8 . the fresh hosta leaves ( golden tiara ) were hand picked in october . fresh leaves ( 20 g ) were chopped into small pieces and then ground in a blender with water ( 500 ml ), followed by sonication for 2 hours at 50 ° c . the extract was filtrated to separate and remove fibrous material . the extraction of the separated solid material was then repeated with another portion of water ( 500 ml ). both extracts were combined and concentrated to ca . 25 ml under reduced pressure on a rotovapor . the concentrated aqueous solution was extracted twice with hexane ( 25 ml ) followed by two - time extraction with ethyl acetate ( 25 ml ). the aqueous phase was evaporated under vacuum to dryness to afford 0 . 28 g ( 1 . 4 % yield ) of the raw extract of flavonoid and steroidal glycosides in the form of powder . this powder ( 0 . 28 g ) was dissolved in 3 . 0 ml of a mixture of water and ethanol ( 1 : 1 ) and subjected to hplc / ms analysis . the solution of this raw extract was separated by a column chromatography on amberlite irc - 50 resin ( 16 - 50 mesh , sigma company ) with gradient elution of increasingly higher content of ethanol in water . the chromatography was monitored by hplc / msd / dad . the first fraction eluted with water ( 500 ml ) contained mainly some polar interfering compounds , such as sugars ; the evaporation under vacuum to dryness yielded a solid powder ( 110 mg ). the second fraction was eluted with 5 % ethanol - water solution ( 200 ml ). the third fraction was eluted with 10 % ethanol - water solution ( 200 ml ) and the fourth fraction eluted with 20 % ethanol - water solution ( 200 ml ). the second , third and fourth fractions were combined and evaporated under vacuum to dryness to afford 48 mg ( 0 . 24 % yield ) of a crude mixture of flavonoid glycosides . the fifth fraction was eluted with 50 % ethanol - water solution ( 200 ml ). this fraction was evaporated separately under vacuum to dryness to afford 28 mg ( 0 . 14 % yield ) of a crude mixture of steroidal glycosides . the hplc / msd / dad analysis was performed with a system that consisted of an hplc 1100 series lc / msd ( hewlett - packard ) instrument , autoinjector , quaternary pump with on - line vacuum degassing unit , thermostated column compartment and diode array detector . at the same time , a mass detector was used . the api - ei mode was chosen . the negative ion mode provided better sensitivity and the interpretation of the spectra was found to be easier . so the analysis results were obtained in negative mode at fragmentation potential of 100 cv . a standard zorbax c8 column ( 150 mm long × 2 . 1 mm i . d .) with 5 μm particle size was used in these examples . the recorded lc / ms chromatogram of the raw extract is presented in fig9 . the procedure for extraction , pre - purification and analysis of hosta leaves is depicted in fig1 . the fresh hosta leaves ( lemon lime ) were hand picked in september . fresh leaves ( 150 g ) were chopped into small pieces and then ground in a blender with 50 % aqueous ethanol solution ( 500 ml ), followed by sonication for 2 hours at 50 ° c . the extract was filtrated to separate and remove fibrous material . the extract was concentrated to ca . 50 ml under reduced pressure on a rotovapor . the concentrated aqueous solution was diluted to 300 ml with water , refrigerated overnight and the formed precipitate of undesired components such as alkylphenols and fat was filtered out . the resulted filtrate was extracted twice with hexane ( 25 ml ) followed by two time extraction with ethyl acetate ( 25 ml ). the aqueous phase was evaporated under vacuum to dryness to afford 2 . 7 g ( 1 . 8 % yield ) of the raw extract of flavonoid and steroidal glycosides in the form of powder . this powder ( 0 . 5 g ) was dissolved in 5 . 0 ml of a mixture of water and ethanol ( 1 : 1 ) and subjected to chromatographic separation . the separation was performed by a column chromatography on amberlite irc - 50 resin ( 16 - 50 mesh , sigma company ) with gradient elution of increasingly higher content of ethanol in water . the chromatography was monitored by hplc / uv and the analysis of the final combined fractions by hplc / msd / dad . the first fraction eluted with water ( 500 ml ) contained mainly some polar interfering compounds , such as sugars ; the evaporation under vacuum to dryness yielded a solid powder ( 260 mg ). the second fraction was eluted with 5 % ethanol - water solution ( 150 ml ). the third fraction was eluted with 10 % ethanol - water solution ( 150 ml ) and the fourth fraction eluted with 20 % ethanol - water solution ( 150 ml ). the second , third and fourth fractions were combined and evaporated under vacuum to dryness to afford 45 mg ( 0 . 16 % yield ) of a crude mixture of flavonoid glycosides . the fifth fraction was eluted with 50 % ethanol - water solution ( 150 ml ) and the sixth one with 80 % ethanol - water solution ( 200 ml ). fractions five and six were combined and evaporated separately under vacuum to dryness to afford 40 . 5 mg ( 0 . 145 % yield ) of a crude mixture of steroidal glycosides . the hplc / msd / dad analysis was performed with a system that consisted of an hplc 1100 series lc / msd ( hewlett - packard ) instrument , autoinjector , quaternary pump with on - line vacuum degassing unit , thermostated column compartment and diode array detector . at the same time , a mass detector was used . the api - ei mode was chosen . the negative ion mode provided better sensitivity and the interpretation of the spectra was found to be easier . so the analysis results were obtained in negative mode at fragmentation potential of 400 ev . a standard zorbax c8 column ( 150 mm long × 2 . 1 mm i . d .) with 5 μm particle size was used in these examples . operation conditions for the analysis were as follows : temperature 30 ° c . mobile phase consisted of an acn / water mixture gradient : the recorded lc / ms chromatogram of the pre - purified extract is presented in fig . the procedure for extraction , pre - purification and analysis of hosta leaves is depicted in fig1 . the fresh hosta leaves ( blue dimples ) were hand picked in september . fresh leaves ( 40 g ) were chopped into small pieces and then ground in a blender with 50 % acetonitrile solution in water ( 250 ml ), followed by sonication for 2 hours at 20 - 40 ° c . the extract was filtrated to separate and remove fibrous material . the extract was concentrated to ca . 5 ml under reduced pressure on a rotovapor . the concentrated solution was extracted twice with hexane ( 3 ml ) followed by two - time extraction with ethyl acetate ( 3 ml ). the aqueous phase was evaporated under vacuum to dryness to afford 1 . 8 g ( 4 . 5 % yield ) of the raw extract of flavonoid and steroidal glycosides in the form of powder . this powder ( 1 . 8 g ) was dissolved in 10 . 0 ml of a mixture of water and acetonitrile ( 1 : 1 ) and subjected to hplc / ms analysis . the solution of this raw extract was separated by a column chromatography on polyamide resin ( 25 g , 80 mesh ) with gradient elution of increasingly higher content of ethanol in water . the chromatography was monitored by hplc / msd / dad . the first fraction eluted with water ( 500 ml ) contained mainly some polar interfering compounds , such as sugars ; the evaporation under vacuum to dryness yielded a solid powder ( 1273 mg ). the second fraction was eluted with 5 % ethanol - water solution ( 200 ml ). the third fraction was eluted with 10 % ethanol - water solution ( 200 ml ) and the fourth fraction eluted with 20 % ethanol - water solution ( 200 ml ). the second , third and fourth fractions were combined and evaporated under vacuum to dryness to afford 80 . 75 mg ( 0 . 2 % yield ) of a crude mixture of flavonoid glycosides . the fifth fraction was eluted with 50 % ethanol - water solution ( 250 ml ). this fraction was evaporated separately under vacuum to dryness to afford 252 mg ( 0 . 63 % yield ) of a crude mixture of steroidal glycosides . the hplc / msd / dad analysis was performed with a system that consisted of an hplc 1100 series lc / msd ( hewlett - packard ) instrument , autoinjector , quaternary pump with on - line vacuum degassing unit , thermostated column compartment and diode array detector . at the same time , a mass detector was used . the api - ei mode was chosen . the negative ion mode provided better sensitivity and the interpretation of the spectra was found to be easier . so the analysis results were obtained in negative mode at fragmentation potential of 100 ev . a standard zorbax c8 column ( 150 mm long × 2 . 1 mm i . d .) with 5 μm particle size was used in these examples . operation conditions for the analysis were as follows : temperature 30 ° c . the recorded lc / ms chromatogram of the raw extract is presented in fig1 . these novel compounds were tested against seven cancer cell lines for anti - tumor activity . the assays were performed with extracts obtained one step prior to the final purification of individual compounds . the percentage of each component in the extracts was characterized . the anti - cancer activity of these compounds was examined over a wide concentration range between 100 ug / ml to 0 . 191 ng / ml . s1 , the extract containing five steroidal glycosides wherein 53 . 8 % is a compound of molecular weight of 1 , 406 da , exhibits considerable anti - proliferation activity against three cell lines from cml , liver , and lung cancer ( fig1 ). one of the flavonoid glycoside mixture , f2 - 2 , showed selective activity on inhibition of the lung cancer cell line a549 ( fig1 ). this mixture contains five flavonoid glycosides of molecular weight of 756 , 918 , 888 , 726 , and 902 dalton respectively . the relative amount for each compound is 12 . 6 , 39 . 9 , 24 . 2 , 14 . 5 , 4 . 8 , and 3 . 8 %, respectively . ochi , m ., et al ., steroid saponin from hosta and antimicrobial and antitumor agents containing it . jp 10 114 , 791 [ 98 114 , 791 ] ( c1 . c07j71 / 00 ), may 6 , 1998 , appl . 96 / 270 , 292 , oct . 11 , 1996 ; 12 pp ; ca 1129 : 32293w ochi , m ., et al ., novel steroidal saponin and antimicrobial agents and antitumor agents containing it . jp 10 158 , 295 [ 98 158 , 295 ] ( c1 . c07j71 ), jun . 16 , 1998 , appl . 96 / 320 , 142 , nov . 29 , 1996 ; 12 pp ; ca 129 : 113511t ( 1 ) li , shih zhen ( ming dynasty ), ben cao gang mu , chinese files publisher , 1999 958 - 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