Inhibition of LFA-1/ICAM-1-mediated cell adhesion by stilbene derivatives from Rheum undulatum

Six stilbenes were isolated from the methanol extract of Rheum undulatum rhizomes by bioactivity-guided fractionation. The structures of the compounds were determined by spectroscopic analysis (1H-, 13C-NMR and MS), to be desoxyrhapontigenin (1), rhapontigenin (2), trans-resveratrol (3), piceatannol (4), piceatannol-3′-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (5) and isorhapontin (6). Compounds 1–4 inhibited the direct binding between sICAM-1 and LFA-1 of the THP-1 cells in a dose-dependent manner with IC50 values of 50.1, 25.4, 33.4 and 45.9 μM, respectively. On the other hand, the other compounds 5 and 6 with a glucose moiety in each molecule did not show any inhibitory activity in the cell adhesion assay (IC50 values of >100.0 μM). Compounds 2, 3 and 4 also had an inhibitory effect on direct binding between sVCAM-1 and VLA-4 of THP-1 cells. This suggests that the stilbenes from Rheum undulatum rhizomes are good candidates for therapeutic strategies towards inflammation.