What is "prostratin"

n. (context organic compound English) A phorbol that acts as an activator for a protein kinase

Prostratin is a protein kinase C activator found in the bark of the mamala tree of Samoa, Homalanthus nutans ( Euphorbiaceae). While prostratin was originally isolated and identified as a new phorbol from species of the genus Pimelea ( Thymelaceae) in Australia, the antiviral activity of prostratin was discovered during research on the traditional knowledge of Samoan healers in Falealupo village by ethnobotanist Paul Alan Cox and a team at the U.S. National Cancer Institute. Samoan healers use the mamala tree to treat hepatitis. Research indicated that prostratin has potential to be useful in the treatment of HIV as it could flush viral reservoirs in latently infected CD4+ T-cells.

As a modulator of Protein Kinase C, it has been shown to exhibit promising therapeutic potential against other diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer's disease. In 2015, study showed that orally administrated prostratin repressed human pancreatic tumor.