ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Caffeic acid, a dietary polyphenol, as a promising candidate for combination therapy

Swastika Maity, Manas Kinra, Madhavan Nampoothiri, Devinder Arora, K. Sreedhara Ranganath Pai, and Jayesh Mudgal

Department of Pharmacology, Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India

E-mail: jayeshmudgal@gmail.com

Received: 3 August 2021  Accepted: 22 October 2021

Abstract:

Increased effectiveness and decreasing toxicity are prime objectives in drug research. Overwhelming evidence suggests the use of appropriate combination therapy for the better efficacy of drugs owing to their synergistic profile. Dietary active constituents play a major role in health outcomes. Therefore, it is possible to increase the effectiveness of the drug by combining contemporary medication with active natural/semi-synthetic constituents. One such dietary constituent, caffeic acid (CA), is a by-product of the shikimate pathway in plants and is a polyphenol of hydroxycinnamic acid class. Extensive research on CA has proposed its efficacy against inflammatory, neurodegenerative, oncologic, and metabolic disorders. The synergistic/additive effects of CA in combination with drugs like caffeine, metformin, pioglitazone, and quercetin have been reported in several experimental models and thus the present review is an attempt to consolidate outcomes of this research. Multi-target-based mechanistic studies will facilitate the development of effective combination regimens of CA.

Keywords: Caffeic acid; Combination therapy; Caffeine; Metabolic disorders; Bioactive metabolites

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-021-01947-7

Chemical Papers 76 (3) 1271–1283 (2022)