Our preliminary study showed that methanolic extract of Chrysanthemum coronarium had potential to induce detoxifying enzymes such as NAD(P)H:Quinone Oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1) and glutathione S-transferase (GST) activity and Ղ-sitosterol was identified to be one of major detoxifying enzyme inducers present in the vegetable. In this study we attempted to evaluate the potential to induce detoxifying enzymes of plant sterols which share structural similarity with Ղ-sitosterol. NQO1 activity was significantly induced by campesterol and Ղ-sitosterol but not by ergosterol and stigmaterol in hepa1c1c7 cells. Campesterol and Ղ-sitosterols also increased the expression of Ճ-glutamylcysteine synthase but not glutathione reductase. However, all plant sterols used in the study failed to induce ARE-luciferase activity in HepG2-C8 cells, suggesting NQO1-inducing abilities of Ղ-sitosterol and campesterol might be independent of ARE-mediated transcriptional activation of detoxifying genes. (Cancer Prev Res 12, 268-272, 2007)

Keywords: Plant sterols, Campesterol, Ղ,-sitosterol, Detoxifying enzymes