The canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathways play an important role in the embryonic development, cell proliferation, differentiation, and adhesion. Therefore, the abnormal activation and repression have been associated with uncontrolled homeostasis in human tissues. In particular, the activation of Wnt signaling is highly correlated with a diverse of diseases including cancer. On this regard, a strategy for targeting Wnt/β-catenin signaling has been employed in the discovery and development of antitumor agents. Herein, the evolution of Wnt signaling and the Wnt inhibitors derived from natural products were briefly summarized in the drug discovery of anticancer agents.

Mushrooms are known for their various attributes in the fields of nutrition and therapeutics. With exceptional taste, aroma, and nutritional value, they are considered 'functional food'-improving health and providing nutritional benefits to the body. Mushrooms have also been widely applied therapeutically as they possess diverse bioactive compounds known as secondary metabolites. These secondary metabolites demonstrated diverse biological properties such as anticancer, anti-diabetic, immunomodulatory, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, anti-allergic, and antioxidative activities. This review presents bioactive compounds from the field of mushroom metabolite research and discusses important findings regarding bioactive compounds identified during the last five years (2015 - 2019).

Volatile constituents obtained by water distillation from the aerial parts and root of Onosma dichroanthum Boiss (Boraginaceae) native to the north of Iran were investigated by GC and GC/MS for the first time. Palmitic acid (39.61%) and decane (31.39%) were the major components in the root while decane (26.26%) and phytol (25.52%) were the predominant constituents in the aerial parts. Ketones, aldehydes, alkanes, fatty acids, oxygenated diterpenes and sesquiterpenes were characterized as the most phytochemicals in the aerial parts. Alkanes and fatty acids were identified as the main groups in the root volatile substances. There were two ketone derivatives, belong to apocarotenoids, in the aerial parts; β-ionone and hexahydrofarnesyl acetone.

Psoriasis is one of the most common inflammatory skin disorders, with a global prevalence of 2% - 3%. It is an autoimmune skin disorder characterized by excessive generation of plaques on the skin with typical long-lasting red, itchy, and scaly lesions. In this study, we aimed to elucidate the anti-psoriatic effect of the methanolic extract of Persicaria senticosa (PS), a bioactive edible plant extract used in traditional medicine, using a mouse model of imiquimod (IMQ)-induced psoriasis. The daily topical application of IMQ could induce human psoriasis-like lesion. The extract ameliorated IMQ-induced psoriasis. Furthermore, hematoxylin and eosin staining and the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) scores indicated that topical application of PS led to an improvement in erythema, scaling, and thickness scores of the mouse dorsal skin and a considerable decrease in the epidermal thickness of the ear and dorsal skin in the IMQ-induced psoriatic mouse model. We also studied the effect of PS on the proliferation of keratinocytes using HaCaT cells. The extract inhibited cell proliferation and IL-6 and pSTAT3 expression induced by M5 cocktail (comprising interleukin [IL]-1α, IL-17A, IL-22, oncostatin M, and tumor necrosis factor-α) in HaCaT cells. Thus, PS might serve as a potential therapeutic agent for the treatment of psoriasis.

Phytochemical investigation of leaves, barks and roots of Nauclea vanderguchtii led to the isolation of sixteen compounds, which includes one citric acid derivative (2), one alkaloid (16), one peptide derivative (3), and twelve triterpenes (1, 4 - 13). These compounds were identified as rotundanonic acid (1), 2-hydroxy-1,2,3-propanetricarboxylic acid 2-methyl ester (2), asperphenamate (3), lupeol (4), stigmasterol (5), betulin (6), betulenic acid (7), stigmasterol 3-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (8), quinovic acid 3β-O-α-L-rhamnoside (9), α-amyrin (10), 3-oxoquinovic acid (11), ursolic acid (12), hederagenin (13), rotundic acid (14), clethric acid (15), and naucleficine (16) by the analysis of their NMR spectroscopic data including 2D NMR spectra and by comparison of their spectroscopic data reported in the literature. Compounds 1 and 3 were isolated for the first time in the genus Nauclea, and compound 2 was isolated for the first time from the Rubiaceae family. Complete NMR assignations for 1 have been published for the first time.

Extensive column chromatography separation of the MeOH extract from the aerial parts of Phyllanthus urinaria afforded seventeen compounds (1 - 17). The structures of the compounds were elucidated by physicochemical and spectroscopic methods to be 5'-β-D-glucopyranosyloxyjasmonic butyl ester (1), (+)-cucurbic acid (2), dendranthemoside B (3), boscialin 4'-O-β-D-glucoside (4), 4,5-dihydroblumenol A (5), (6R,9R)-megastigman-4-ene-9,13-diol (6), (3S,5R,6S,9R)-3,6-dihydroxy-5,6-dihydro-β-ionol (7), (6S,9R)-roseoside (8), mallophenol B (9), icariside B₅ (10), corchoinoside B (11), canangaionoside (12), 5,6-epoxy-3-hydroxy-7-megastigmen-9-one (13), icariside B₂ (14), (7E)-2β,3β-dihydroxy-megastigm-7-en-9-one (15), betulalbuside A (16), and loliolide (17). The compounds 1, and 3 - 16 were isolated for the first time from this plant. The absolute stereochemistry of compound 1 was newly determined. The isolated compounds were tested for cytotoxic activity against four human tumor cell lines in vitro using a Sulforhodamin B bioassay, but all the compounds showed weak cytotoxic activities.

Helicobacter pylori is a well-known pathogen that is responsible for gastric disorders. Overcoming of the antibiotic-resistance is a main barrier to treat H. pylori infection. In our search for anti-H. pylori compounds from natural resources, bioactivity-guided isolation on the ethyl acetate fraction of Fraxinus mandshurica bark that had shown anti-H. pylori activity gave twelve compounds (1 - 12) of six coumarins, three phenylethanoids, two secoiridoids, and a lignan using silica gel column chromatography, Sephadex-LH 20, and recrystallization. The chemical structures were identified by spectroscopic data analysis, including 1D, 2D NMR, and mass spectrometry. Among them, compounds 2, 10, and 11 showed moderate growth inhibitory activity against three strains of H. pylori, compared with positive controls of quercetin and metronidazole. Compounds 5, 6, 8, and 12 exhibited the inhibitory activity against strains 26695 or 43504. This is the first report on the anti-H. pylori activity of this plant and the isolated compounds.

Carica papaya is a medicinal and fruit plant owing biological activities including antioxidant, antiviral, antibacterial and anticancer. The present study aims to investigate the acetyl (AChE) and butyryl (BChE) cholinesterase inhibitory potentials of C. papaya extracts as well as their chemical compositions. The chemical composition of the active extract was identified using a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Ellman enzyme inhibition assay showed that the alkaloid-enriched leaf extract of C. papaya possessed significant anti-BChE activity with an enzyme inhibition of 75.9%. GC-MS analysis showed that the alkaloid extract composed mainly the carpaine (64.9%) - a major papaya alkaloid, and some minor constituents such as aliphatic hydrocarbons, terpenes and phenolics. Molecular docking of carpaine revealed that this molecule formed hydrogen bond and hydrophobic interactions with choline binding site and acyl pocket. This study provides some preliminary findings on the potential use of C. papaya leaf as an herbal supplement for the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

Liriodendron tulipifera, belonging to the family Magnoliaceae, is commonly called tulip tree. Four N-acetylated aporphine alkaloids, N-acetylnornuciferine (1), N-acetylanonaine (2), N-acetyl-3-methoxynornuciferine (3), and N-acetyl-3-methoxynornantenine (4) were isolated from the roots of L. tulipifera. Although the purity of each compound (1 - 4) was determined to be 97, 96, 99, and 98%, respectively, the ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectroscopic data of the aporphine alkaloids 1 - 4 displayed all signals in duplicate, indicating the presence of two rotamers due to restricted rotation of N-COCH₃ functionality in solution status. The absolute configurations of 1 - 4 w ere established by measuring specific rotation and comparison with the reported data. This is the first report on the ¹H and ¹³C NMR assignments of N-acetyl-3-methoxynornuciferine (3) and N-acetyl-3-methoxynornantenine (4). This study provides advanced NMR spectroscopic data for the structure determination of rotameric aporphine alkaloids.

Two new compounds, 3-methyl-but-2-en-1-yl-1-O-β-xylopyranosyl-(1"→2')-O-β-glucopyranoside (1) and 1-O-β-glucopyranosyl-6-hydroxy-2-methyl-hep-2-enoic acid (2), along with sixteen known terpenoids were isolated from the peels of Citrus unshiu Markov. Their structures were elucidated based on extensive NMR analyses (¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, DEPT, COSY, HMQC, and HMBC) and high-resolution mass spectrometry. In addition, all isolates (1 - 18) were tested their effects on nitric oxide (NO) production in RAW264.7 cells. Limonin (15) showed to inhibit LPS-induced NO production in a concentration-dependent manner without cytotoxicity.