PERSPECTIVE article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Experimental Pharmacology and Drug Discovery
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1637393
Looking Beyond Silybin: The Importance of Other Silymarin Flavonolignans
Provisionally accepted
Michal Selc1,2*
Andrea Babelova1,2- 1Centre for Advanced Material Application, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia
- 2Biomedical Research Center, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia
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Silymarin, an extract from the seeds of milk thistle (Silybum marianum), has been widely studied and used for its hepatoprotective and pharmacological properties. For decades, both experimental and clinical research has been predominantly focused on a single component, silybin, while other related flavonolignans, such as silychristin, isosilybins, silydianin, dehydrosilybin, and the flavonoid taxifolin, have been understudied. However, these less known components may possess unique or even superior pharmacological activities compared to silybin, including strong antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, and selective anticancer effects. Exploring these other constituents beyond silybin may unlock new opportunities for drug discovery and personalized phytotherapy, ultimately advancing the development of next-generation flavonolignan-based therapeutics.
Keywords: Silymarin, silybin, Flavonolignans, Natural Products, research bias the lion's share Notably, s made it more accessible for isolation, structural
Received: 29 May 2025; Accepted: 11 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Selc and Babelova. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Michal Selc, Centre for Advanced Material Application, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.