Multifunctional epiberberine mediates multi-therapeutic effects.

Epiberberine, a natural protoberberine from Coptis chinensis Franch., is a potential alkaloid for the treatment of a variety of chronic diseases. The aim of this study is to summarize recent advances in the multiple and potential therapeutic effects of epiberberine. High-quality researches published in last two decades were retrieved from Web of science, ScienceDirect, PubMed and Springer with keywords namely 'epiberberine', 'protoberberine', 'coptis', 'huanglian', 'Coptidis rhizoma' and vital targets of some pathways in anti-adipogenesis, anti-dyslipidemia and anti-cancer activities. All the available research studies indicated that epiberberine is a multi-target small molecule with a low toxicity and exerts many activities including anti-adipogenesis via Akt and ERK pathways, anti-dyslipidemia via inhibition on cholesterol synthesis, anti-cancer via p53/Bax apoptosis pathway, anti-bacterial, improvement in diabetes and Alzheimer's disease. The present work will shed light on the direction for future investigations. Undoubtedly, C. chinensis and epiberberine are expected to exert beneficial effects in various diseases. However, there is a lack of evaluation of clinical applications and underlying molecular mechanisms of epiberberine in diabetes and dementia.