Antioxidant and antiproliferative activity of glycosides obtained by biotransformation of xanthohumol

The biotransformation of xanthohumol (1), a prenylated chalcone isolated from hops by selected fungi, was investigated. Microbial regioselective glycosylation at the C-4' position led to xanthohumol 4'-O-β-d-glucopyranoside (2) and xanthohumol 4'-O-β-d-(4'''-O-methyl)-glucopyranoside (3). The subsequent cyclization of 2 resulted in isoxanthohumol 7-O-β-glucopyranoside (4). The structures of the products were identified based on spectroscopic methods. The biological activity of isolated metabolites has been evaluated. Compared to xanthohumol (1), metabolite 2 is a better 2,2'-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenger, while 2 and 3 have stronger antiproliferative activity against the human HT-29 colon Cancer cell line.