Novel Glycyrrhetinic Acid Derivative Soloxolone Methyl Inhibits the Inflammatory Response and Tumor Growth in vivo

Abstract

Due to wide spreading of inflammatory disease and imperfection of available anti-inflammatory drugs, mainly associated with their serious side effects, searching for new anti-inflammatory agents is a pressing problem. Natural triterpenoids and their synthetic analogs are a promising source of new drugs. In this study, we have investigated the anti-inflammatory and antitumor effects in vivo of the glycyrrhetinic acid derivative soloxolone methyl (SM), or methyl 2-cyano-3,12-dioxo-18βH-olean-9(11),1(2)-dien-30-oate. SM was shown to efficiently suppress the development of edema in a mouse model of carrageenan- or histamine- induced acute inflammation. SM also inhibited the tumor growth and reduced the tumor cell count in the ascitic fluid in mice bearing Krebs-2 carcinoma, the development of which is accompanied by an inflammatory process in the surrounding tissues.