Diesters of glycosylglycerols active in cancer chemoprevention

Enzymatic transesterification, mediated by Pseudomonas cepacia lipase (lipase PS), led to the pure 1,6′-diacylderivatives of 2-O-β-D-glucosyl-sn-glycerol and 2-O-β-D-galactosyl-sn-glycerol, the acyl chains being derived from short-medium length fatty acids. A study of the in vitro inhibitory effects of these diacylderivatives on Epstein-Barr virus early antigen activation induced by the tumour promoter 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate revealed that maximum activity was reached for the hexanoyl chain and that the introduction of a second acyl chain did not significantly modify the inhibitory potential referring to the corresponding 1- or 6′-monoesters.