Icariin

Icariin, the active component of the Chinese medicinal plant E. brevicornum. It has been shown to have anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antioxidant, osteoprotective, neuroprotective and cardioprotective activity. It has been shown to enhance bone formation and bone regeneration. Icariin may be beneficial to Alzheimer's disease by reducing the production of extracellular amyloid plaques and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles and inhibiting phosphodiesterase-5 activity. The anti-cancer activity is related to various mechanisms such as apoptosis and autophagy induction, cell cycle modulation, antiangiogenesis and antimetastasis, modulating multidrug resistance and immunomodulation. Icariin interacts with several pathways, like PDE, TGF-β, MAPK, PPAR, NOS, IGF, Sirtuin and others. Icariin has been shown to inhibit the NF-κ activation pathway and NLRP3 inflammasome.