Apoptosis - Zerumbone is a cytotoxic component isolated from Zingiber zerumbet Smith, a herbal plant which is also known as lempoyang. This new anticancer bioactive compound from Z. zerumbet was investigated for its activity and mechanism in human liver cancer cell lines.

Zerumbone significantly showed an antiproliferative activity upon HepG2 cells with an IC50 of 3.45 ± 0.026 μg/ml. Zerumbone was also found to inhibit the proliferation of non-malignant Chang Liver and MDBK cell lines.

Zerumbone was found to induce the apoptotic process in HepG2 cells through the up and down regulation of Bax/Bcl-2 protein independently of functional p53 activity.

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Anti-Inflammatory - In this paper, zerumbone (1), 3-O-methyl kaempferol (2), kaempferol-3-O-(2, 4-di-O-acetyl-α-l-rhamnopyranoside) (3), and kaempferol-3-O-(3,4-di-O-acetyl-α-l-rhamnopyranoside) (4) were isolated from the rhizome of Z. zerumbet.

According to the in vitro study, 1 had greater anti-inflammatory effects than 2. Therefore, mice were administered with 1 (10 mg/kg) 1 h before carrageenan injection, and the oedema was significantly attenuated compared to the vehicle control.

Mature rhizomes were richer in 1 and lower in moisture. We suggest that the economic cultivation period of Z. zerumbet is the 5th month after seeding when its functions as food and anti-inflammatory are maximum, because 1 is dramatically increased at that time.

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