Rong-Jane Chen ^a,1, Yu-Hsuan Lee ^a,1, Ya-Ling Yeh ^a, Wun-Syuan Wu ^a,
Chi-Tang Ho ^b, Chia-Yi Li ^c, Bour-Jr Wang ^a,d,e,*, Ying-Jan Wang ^a,f,g,h,*

^a Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
^b Department of Food Science, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
^c Robert Thirsk High School, Calgary, AB, Canada
^d Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Tainan, Taiwan
^e Department of Cosmetic Science and Institute of Cosmetic Science, Chia Nan University of Pharmacy and Science, Tainan, Taiwan
^f Department of Biomedical Informatics, Asia University, Taichung, Taiwan
^g Department of Medical Research, China Medical University Hospital,
China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
^h Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine, Taipei Medical University,
Taipei 110, Taiwan

 

Pterostilbene is a naturally occurring analog of resveratrol with many health benefits. These health benefits are associated with its antioxidant activity, anti-inflammatory effects, and chemopreventive effects attributed to its unique structure. The skin cancer chemopreventive potential of pterostilbene is supported by a variety of mechanistic studies confirming the anti-inflammatory effects in skin cancer models. Molecular biological studies have identified that pterostilbene targets pleotropic signaling pathways, including those involved in mitogenesis, cell cycle regulation, and apoptosis. Recently, pterostilbene has been reported to induce autophagy in cancer and normal cells. Through autophagy induction, the inflammatory-related skin diseases can be attenuated. This finding suggests the potential use of pterostilbene in the treatment and prevention of skin disorders via alleviating inflammatory responses by autophagy induction. This review summarizes the protective and therapeutic benefits of pterostilbene in skin diseases from the viewpoint of its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and autophagy-inducing effects. Novel underlying mechanisms regarding these effects are discussed. We proposed that pterostilbene, a promising natural product, can be used as a preventive and therapeutic agent for inflammation-related skin disorders through induction of autophagy.

 

Keywords: autophagy, inflammation, pterostilbene, skin disorders