Medical Attributes of Echinacea spp. - Coneflower

by Brice Rowlands
Wilkes University
Wilkes-Barre, PA

July, 2017
Echinacea (Coneflower) is a genus of perennial herbs native to North America that belong to the Asteraceae (aster family). The plants are typically erect, and range from 0.5 to 3 feet tall, varying by species. The herb produces a flower with a prominent cone shape disc with surrounding rays of varying shades of purple (Foster & Duke, 2014). The main species used for herbal remedies in research is Echinacea purpurea, the purple coneflower, though Echinacea pallida and Echinacea angustifolia are also used.

Echinacea has been extensively used in Native American culture for many aliments such as snake bites, spider bites, illnesses, cancer, and wounds such as burns or sores. When Europeans arrived in the New World, the value of the Echinacea plant was seen and it was brought back to Europe and cultivated as a decorative plant and as an herb with medicinal value (Foster & Duke, 2014). Today in Germany, over 300 pharmaceutical preparations either use Echinacea directly or incorporates their chemical products. From 1895 to 1925 American doctors prescribed Echinacea more than any other American plant (Foster & Duke, 2014).

Several chemical compounds are found within plants belonging to the genus Echinacea, including alkamides, caffeic acid derivatives (chicoric acid), polysaccharides, and glycoproteins, all of which are secondary metabolites (Manayi, et al., 2015). Alcoholic extracts have also been made of the roots of Echinacea purpurea, E. angustifolia, and E. pallida. These chemical constituents are collected in various ways such as drying Echinacea angustifolia at 45˚ – 60˚ Celsius and using super critical CO2 and extracting the alkamides from its roots (Sun, et al.,2002).

Echinacea’s many uses have ensured that the species remains relevant in medical research for finding treatments of cancer, inflammation, and illness such as colds and flus. In cancer treatments, Echinacea purpurea derived chicoric acid has been used to induce apoptosis in human colon cancer cells. This was done by using Echinacea purpurea flowers and chicoric acid on human cancer cells. The in vitro study found that the chicoric acid did induce apoptosis of the cancer cells by decreasing telomerase activity (Tas, et al., 2012). Another cancer study focused on Echinacoside derived from Cistanche and Echinacea. Its purpose was to induce apoptotic cancer cells by inhibiting the enzyme MTH1, forcing the cell into apoptosis. An in vitro study of Echinacoside and cancer cell lines found that the compound inhibited MTH1 causing irreparable oxidative DNA damage, leading to apoptotic death of the cancerous cells (Dong, et al., 2015).

Treating inflammation is another use for the Echinacea plant, such as case in atopic eczema. Alkylamides derived from Echinacea purpurea were used to reduce skin inflammation caused by eczema. The alkylamide derivates inhibited mRNA expression along with reduced pro-inflammatory cytokines causing reduced inflammation in in vitro studies (Olah, et al., 2017). Echinacea purpurea was also studied for preventing systemic inflammation induced memory impairment and amyloidgenesis.  The goal of this study was to use chicoric acid from the herb to inhibit NF-kB. The in vivo study involved mice expressing neuroinflammation, ayloidgenesis, and cognitive impairment. The mice had been given chicoric acid along with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) via injection.  Results showed that LPS induced increases in amyloid production had not occurred and that chicoric acid had also reduced NF-kB regulated inflammatory mediators (Liu, et al., 2016). Studies like this could hold a key to reducing neuroinflammatory related diseases such as Alzheimer disease. Echinacea extracts were also used in another study to reduce tonsil inflammation caused by Streptococcal pharyngitis by using phytochemical extracts from the herb (Wijesundara, et al., 2017).

Echinacea also shows promise in fighting infections. Echinacea has been long used to boost an individual’s immune system. In one in vivo study, two groups of dogs received either a placebo or an oral administration of 1mL of 5% hydroethanolic extract of Echinacea. Regular blood drawings were done, followed by an examination of packed cell volume, hemoglobin, red blood cell count, and white blood cell count, among others. After 60 days, the groups receiving the extract had increased in all categories above the group receiving the placebo (Torkan, et al., 2015), thus establishing that Echinacea has immune system boosting ability. Another study examined whether Echinacea purpurea can help prevent secondary infections of the respiratory tract by altering the regulation of surface receptor expression in bronchial epithelial cells of humans. Researchers used Echinaforce extract from the herb on the adhesion of Haemophilus influenzae and Staphlyococcus aureus along with expression of several bacterial receptors. The Echinaforce extract did reduce viral and bacterial adhesion to bronchial cells, but it also reduced inflammatory cytokines from suppressing NF-kB expression (Vimalanathan, et al., 2017).  Echinacea purpurea was used in a study to shorten the course of respiratory infections in mice. Over the course of the experiment mice treated with Echinacea had less weight loss and less infection rate after treatment (Fusco, et al., 2010). As an immune booster Echinacea was used by researchers to test how gamma irradiated mice healed or avoided radiation damage all together. By the end of the testing the mice group that was administered Echinacea had received less radiation damage and had quicker hemoglobin recovery than the control group (Abouelella, et al., 2007). Another study was preformed to test how Echinacea extracts could boost the immune system by promoting cell maturation. When the experiment ended, the results were that the extract did promote both phenotypic and functional maturation of dendritic cells (Li, et al.,2017). A similar study also involved dendritic cells treated with Echinacea extracts and found that the herb could act as an immunostimulant, immunosuppressive, and anti-inflammatory depending on what portion of the plant was used (Benson, et al., 2010).

No adverse side effects associated with Echinacea use in medical practices have been reported so far. In one study, doses of Echinacea purpurea extract were given to rats and mice orally for a period of 4 weeks, much higher than human doses, with no adverse outcomes. Necropsies for the rats found no toxic effects in the rats nor did any mutagenicity tests in vitro show any signs mutations in mammalian cells or microorganisms. The mice also did not show any negative results for mutations or toxic effects resulting from Echinacea treatment (Mengs, et al., 1991).

The genus Echinacea shows much promise in the field of medicine both in practice and in research. The number of chemical constituents produced by the herb has varied uses in numerous medical applications. This paired with the fact that nearly no adverse effects are present reinforces the need for more research and uses to be applied to Echinacea herbs. 

LITERATURE CITED

Abouelella. A.M, Y.E. Shahein, S.S. Tawfik, & A.M. Zahran 2007. Phytotherapeutic effects of Echinacea purpurea in gamma-irradiated mice. J Vet Sci. 8(4): 341-51.
Dong, L., H. Wang, J. Niu, M. Zou, N. Wu, D. Yu, Y. Wang, & Z. Zou. 2015. Echinacoside induces apoptotic cancer cell death by inhibiting the nucleoside pool sanitizing enzyme MTH1. OncoTargets and Therapy 8: 3649-3664.

Benson, J.M., A.J. Pokorny, A. Rhule, C.A. Wenner, V. Kandhi, N.B. Cech, & D.M. Shepherd. 2010. Echinacea purpurea extracts modulate murine dendritic cell fate and function. Food Chem Toxicol 48(5): 1170-7.

Foster, S., & J.A. Duke. 2014. Peterson Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs (3rd ed.). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. New York. 267 pp.

Fusco, D., X. Liu, C. Savage, Y. Taur, W. Xiao, E. Kennelly, J. Yuan, B. Cassileth, M. Salvatore, & G.A. Papanicolauo. 2010. Echinacea purpurea aerial extract alters course of influenza infection in mice. Vaccine 28(23): 3956-62.

Li, Y., Y. Wang, Y. Wu, B. Wang, X. Chen, X. Xu, H. Chen, W. Li, & X. Xu. 2017. Echinacea pupurea extracts promote murine dendritic cell maturation by activation of JNK, p38 MAPK and NF-κB pathways. Dev Comp Immunol. 73: 21-26.

Manayi, A., M. Vazirian, & S.Saeidnia. 2015. Echinacea purpurea: Pharmacology, phytochemistry and analysis methods. Pharmacogn Rev 9(17):63-72.

Mengs, U., C.B. Clare, & J.A. Poliey. 1991 Toxicity of Echinacea purpurea. Acute, subacute and genotoxicity studies. Arzneitmittelforschung 41(10): 1076-81

Olah, A., J. Szabo-Papp, M. Soebert, U. Knie, S. Dahnhardt- Pfeiffer, C. Abels, & T. Biro. 2017. Echinacea purpurea - derived alkylamide exhibit potent anti-inflammatory effects and alleviate clinical symptoms of atopic eczema. J Dermatol Sci.

Qian, L., C. Yuwei, S. Chun, X. Yating, W. Yutang, L. Zhigang, & L. Xuebo. 2016. Chicoric acid supplementation prevents systemic inflammation- induced memory impairment and amyloidogeneis via inhibition of NF-kB. FASEB J 31(4): 1494-1507.

Sun, L., K.A. Rezaei, F. Temelli, & B. Ooraikul. 2002. Supercritical Fluid Extraction of Alkylamides from Echinacea angustifolia. J. Agric. Food Chem 50(14): 3947-3953.

Torkan, S., F. Khamesipour, & S. Katsande. 2015. Evaluating the effect of oral administration of Echinacea hydroethanoilic extract on the immune systems in dog. Auton Autacoid Pharmacol 35(1-2): 9-13.

Tsai, Y.L., C.C. Chiu, J. Yi-Fu Chen, K.C. Chan, & S.D. Lin. 2012.  Cytotoxic effects of Echinacea purpurea flower extracts and cichoric acid on human colon cancer cells through induction of apoptosis. J Ethnopharmacol 1143(3): 914-9.

Vimalanathan, S., R. Schoop, A. Suter, & J. Hudson. 2017. Prevention influenza virus induced bacterial superinfection by standardized Echinacea purpurea, via regulation of surface receptor expression in human bronchial epithelial cells. Virus Res. 233:51-59.

Wijesundara, N.M., S. Sekhon-Loodu, & H.V. Rupasinghe. 2017. Phytochemical-rich medicinal plant extracts suppress bacterial antigens-induced inflammation in human tonsil epithelial cells. Peer J 5.
This paper was developed as part of the BIO 368 - Medical Botany course offered at Wilkes University during the summer of 2017. Course instructor was Kenneth M. Klemow, Ph.D. (kklemow@wilkes.edu). The information contained herein is based on published sources, and is made available for academic purposes only. No warrantees, expressed or implied, are made about the medical usefulness or dangers associated with the plant species in question.

Return to Plant Summaries page

This page posted and maintained by Kenneth M. Klemow, Ph.D., Biology Department, Wilkes University, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18766. (570) 408-4758, kklemow@wilkes.edu.