St. Johns Wort

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St. Johns Wort

• Rachael Krob, Melissa Morrison Katie Wooten

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St. Johns Wort

• Hypericum perforatum from the family Hypericaceae
• genus Hypericum
• 400 species worldwide
• Common Name Goatweed
• Klamath Weed
• Amber Touch-and-Heal
• Blood of Christ
• Hardhay
• Guttiferae
• Tipton weed

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Botanical Description

• SJW is an aromatic perennial herb, usually
  growing between 1-3 feet
• -small oblong leaves dotted with glandular
  trichomes containing essential oils
• -flowers are yellow with an abundance of bushy
  stamens
• - 5 petals with black dots on the periphery
• Native to Europe, Asia and parts of Africa
• Widespread in the U.S. and can be found in sunny
  places such as fields, meadows, and roadsides

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Ethnobotany -Whats in a name?

• wort- English word for plant
• perforatum- Latin word for hole
• Legend of SJW
• Origin of name dates back to the Middle Ages
• -believed the red resin was blood from the
  beheaded St. John the Baptist
• -flowers have brightest appearance on June 24th,
  John the Baptists birthday

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Ethnobotany

• Gaelic tradition
• Food flavoring
• Crop blessings
• Soaked plant in olive oil until blood was
  released
• Red oil used to bless crops
• Pre-Christian Religious practices
• Protect from evil spirits and banish witches
• Sleeping with plant provided blessings
• herba demonis fuga herb that chases away the
  devil

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Historical Usage

• Used by various countries to treat
• Depression
• Kidney disorders
• Wound treatment
• Antibacterial
• Anti-viral (AIDS)
• GI disorders
• Diuretic
• Night terrors
• Cancer

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Historical Uses

• Many early herbalist/physicians recommended SJW
• Hippocrates, Gerard, Pliny the Elder, Dioscorides
• Medicinal usage well document with 1st written
  record dating back to 1st century A.D.
• Pliny the Elder
• Dioscorides recommended SJW in his medical text
  for the treatment of sciatica and burns
• First suggested by Paracelsus to treat mental
  illnesses
• Work led to centuries of research in this area
• 1630 Agelo Sala mentioned SJWs excellent
  reputation for treating illnesses of the
  imagination, melancholia, and anxiety

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Historical Usage

• SJW continued to spread and was eventually
  introduced to the American Indians
• Used to treat tuberculosis and other breathing
  conditions
• Today, SJW is best known for anti-depressive
  activities, but research continues in many areas,
  especially cancer and AIDS
• Currently, SJW is listed in national
  pharmacopoeias of France, Poland, Czechoslovakia,
  Russia, Germany and Romania

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Current Medical Uses

• Depression
• Cancer
• HIV/AIDS
• (Further research and trials is needed to
  confirm effectiveness)

• Burns, cuts, and herpes (painful blisters of
  genital herpes).

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Methods of Use

• Capsules
• Tinctures
• Teas (powder)

• Depremin and Depesin contains 0.5 mg Hypericin
• Natrol
• Kira or Jarsin 300

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Depression

• In any given 1-year period, 9.5 percent of the
  population, or about 18.8 million American
  adults, suffer from a depressive illness (Robins)
  
• In Germany, it is prescribed twenty times more
  often than popular pharmaceutical drugs Zoloft
  and Prozac
• Effectiveness of St John's Wort. in Major
  Depression (Shelton et al. 1978-1986)
• St.Johns wort for depression-an overview and
  meta-analysis of randomised clinical trials
  (Linde et al. 253-258)

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Cancer

• Compounds from St.Johns Wort have anticancer
  properties
• St.Johns Wort More Implications for Cancer
  Patients (Mansky et al. 1187-1188)
• Anti-cancer Activities of Hypericin in the Dark
  (Blank et al. 120-125)
• Antivascular Tumor Eradication by
  Hypericin-mediated Photodynamic Therapy (Chen et
  al. 509-513)

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HIV/AIDS

• Hypericin seems to interfere with the
• reproduction of retroviruses
• Further research is needed
• P27SJ, a novel protein in St John's Wort, that
  suppresses expression of HIV-1 genome (Sarkissian
  et al. 288-295)

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Side Effects

• Anxiety, dry mouth dizziness, gastrointestinal
  symptoms, fatigue, headache, or sexual
  dysfunction.
• Research shows that St. Johns Wort interacts
  with some drugs.
• Indinavir, Irinotecan, Cyclosporine, Digoxin,
  Warfarin, Birth control pills, and
  Antidepressants.

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Compounds

• SJW contains naphtodiantrons, flavonoids,
  phloroglucinols, phenolic acids, and essential
  oils
• The active compounds are
• Hypericin, pseudohypericin (naphtodiantrons)
• Cancer
• Hyperforin (phloroglucinol)
• Used for depression

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Compound Structures
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Mode of Action - Depression

• Hyperforin major component
• Inhibits the 3H-GABA transporter GAT1 and the
  3H-L-glutamate transporter EAAC1
• Monensin, a Na ionophore, inhibits reuptake of
  these, serotonin, and dopamine
• Hyperforin does not act on this channel, but it
  appears to act on a sodium conductive pathway
• 2003 study upregulates serotonin 5-HT(2)
  receptors in mice

(Wonnemann, 2000)
(Butterweck, 2003)
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Mode of Action - Cancer

• Study by F. Pajonk, 2005
• Hypericin inhibits NF-?B, a major transcription
  factor influencing apoptosis
• Leads to premature apoptosis
• Study by B. Chen, 2002
• Photodynamic therapy and hypericin
• Destroys vascular cells in tumors
• Has potential for use in solid tumors

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Mode of Action HIV/AIDS

• Protein from SJW - p27SJ
• Binds to C/EBPß inhibits its interaction with
  DNA
• p27SJ decreases level of viral replication in HIV
  infected cells

(Darbinian-Sarkissian , 2006)
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Contraindications

• Hyperforin
• May activate pregnane X receptor
• PXR induces CYP3A4 transcription
• Results in quicker metabolism of certain
  xenobiotics

(Moore, 2000)
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Work Cited

• Blank, Michael, Mathilda Mandel, Sadick Hazan,
  and Yona Keisari. "ANTI-cancer
• Activities of Hypercin in the Dark."
  Photochemistry and Photobiology May 2001
• 120-125.
• Chen, Bin, Tania Roskams, and Peter A.M. de
  Witte. "Antivascular Tumor eradication by
• Hypericin-mediated Photodynamic Therapy."
  Photochemistry and Photobiology
• 76.5 (2002) 509-513.
• Linde, Klaus, Gilbert Ramirez, Cynthia Mulrow,
  and Dieter Melchart. "St. John's wort
• for depression- an overview and meta-analysis of
  randomised clinical trials." BMJ
• 313 (1996) 253-258.
• Mansky, Patrick, and Stephen Straus. "St.John's
  Wort More Implications for Cancer
• Patients." Journal of the National Cancer
  Institute Aug 2002 1187-1188.
• Shelton, Richard, Martin Keller, Alan Gelenberg,
  and David Dunner. "Effectiveness of St
• John's Wort in Major Depression." JAMA 285.15
  (2001) 1978-1986.
• "St. John's Wort." July 2005. National Center for
  Complementary and Alternative
• Medicine. 10 Apr. 2006
• Robins LN, Regier DA (Eds). Psychiatric Disorders
  in America, The Epidemiologic
• Catchment Area Study, 1990 New York The Free
  Press.
• Rosenthal, Norman. St.John's Wort the herbal way
  to feeling good. New York
• HarperCollins, 1998.

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