Caffeic acid is a selective inhibitor for leukotriene biosynthesis.

.eukotrienes are significantly involved in immunoregulation and in a variety of diseases, including asthma, inflammation and various allergic conditions. They are initially biosynthesized by 5-lipoxygenase from arachidonic acid, which can also be metabolized to prostaglandin endoperoxide by cyclooxygenase. The specific inhibitors for 5-lipoxygenase would be useful not only as tools for investigating the regulation mechanism of leukotriene biosynthesis, but also as drugs for clinical use. Although recently a few selective inhibitors have been reported, most of them are difficult to obtain, since they are new compounds. We found that caffeic acid, which is one of the most common reagents, is a selective inhibitor for 5-lipoxygenase and therefore for leukotriene biosynthesis. The inhibitory effect of its methyl ester on 5-lipoxygenase (ID50 = 4.8 X 10(-7) M) was stronger than that of caffeic acid itself (ID50 = 3.7 X 10(-6) M). Caffeic acid inhibited 5-lipoxygenase in a non-competitive manner. Caffeic acid and its methyl ester did not inhibit prostaglandin synthase activity at all, at least up to 5 X 10(-4) M, but rather stimulate at higher doses. The biosynthesis of leukotriene C4 and D4 in mouse mast tumor cells was also inhibited completely with 10(-4) caffeic acid. Besides, caffeic acid had little effect on arachidonic acid metabolism in platelet at less than 1 X 10(-5) M, but at higher doses it showed a definite inhibitory effect, i.e., thromboxane B2, HHT (12(S)-hydroxy-5,8,10-heptadecatetraenoic acid) and 12-HETE (12(S)-hydroxy-5,8,10,14-eicosatetraenoic acid) syntheses were inhibited 33, 40 and 80% at 1 X 10(-4) M, respectively. Platelet aggregation induced by arachidonic acid was also inhibited by caffeic acid at high dose, while platelet aggregation induced by ADP is not influenced by caffeic acid at all. The observations on caffeic acid and its derivatives may contribute to leukotriene research.