CA has been shown to have many effects, such as lowering blood sugar, anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, anti-oxidant potential, immunomodulatory, and inhibiting many cancer cell lines, including lung and bowel cancer (in vitro and in vivo).

Now, CA derivatives play an important role in anticancer drug development. Many previous studies have found high levels of methyl caffeate (MC) in the Ngoc cau (Balanophora laxiflora Hemsley).

This is a promising candidate for the treatment of inflammatory, cancer-related diseases.

Therefore, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Trinh Thi Thuy and a research team from the Institute of Chemistry (Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology) researched the process of obtaining caffeate derivatives from Ngoc cau species and tested their effects and mechanisms of action on a several cancer cell lines, with a deeper focus on the acute bone marrow cancer cell line (OCI-AML3).

The experimental results show that the new caffeyl hydraride derivatives have good inhibitory activity on nitric oxide (NO) production. Notably, fluorobenzoic hydraride had the strongest inhibitory activity, more than two times stronger than the positive control.

In addition, the research team has developed a process for extraction, separation and purification of MC compounds from Ngoc cau (scale of 2g MC/batch, average yield of 0.036%). At the same time, Caffeate-MC preparations are safe, meeting food hygiene and safety standards.

Notably, this is the first time that MC has been shown to significantly inhibit OCI-AML3 cell proliferation, and activate apoptosis. The team has synthesized 8 new caffeyl hydrazide derivatives. These substances have very good anti-inflammatory activity, which is the basis for directing further research and development.