Synthesis, biosynthesis and biological activities of galbanic acid - A review

Context: Galbanic acid (GA) is a biologically active sesquiterpene coumarin from Ferula species (Apiaceae). This compound showed various biological properties including anticancer, cancer chemopreventive, anticoagulant, antiviral, and antileishmanial activities. Objectives: This article is a review on the synthesis, biosynthesis, and biological activities of GA. In addition, we discussed gaps in our knowledge about GA that deserve future research. In this article, we also evaluated the drug-likeness of GA in silico. Methods: All relevant databases were searched for the terms "galbanic acid'', "methyl galbanate'', "Ferula'' and "sesquiterpene coumarin'' without limitation, up to May 2013. Information on GA was collected via electronic search using Pubmed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Sciencedirect. All physicochemical parameters used for the prediction of drug-likeness were calculated using MarvinSketch (version 5.11, academic package, ChemAxon). Results: This compound showed various biological properties including anticancer, cancer chemopreventive, anticoagulant, antiviral and antileishmanial activities. GA can inhibit the growth of prostate cancer cells via decreasing androgen receptor abundance. In silico physicochemical studies on GA showed that this compound has drug-like properties, the parameters that are important to predict potential of a compound for being a future drug. Conclusion: GA is a valuable natural product with various biological activities. New discoveries with GA are to be expected.