Rocaglamide is a natural product which belongs to a class of molecules called flavaglines. This compound was isolated in 1982 by King and colleagues based on its antileukemic activity. Like other flavaglines, rocaglamide displays potent insecticidal, antifungal, anti-inflammatory and anticancer activities. Rocaglamide was first synthesized by Barry Trost in 1990.[4] Although other syntheses have been described since, Trost’s remains the only one to afford rocaglamide in an enantio-specific manner. rocaglamides are potent immunosuppressive phytochemicals that suppress IFN-gamma, TNF-alpha, IL-2, and IL-4 production in peripheral blood T cells at nanomolar concentrations. We demonstrate that rocaglamides inhibit cytokine gene expression at the transcriptional level. At the doses that inhibit cytokine production, they selectively block NF-AT activity without impairing NF-kappaB and AP-1.
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