Benzopyrans from Curvularia sp., an endophytic fungus associated with Ocotea corymbosa (Lauraceae)

An isolate of Curvularia sp. was obtained from the leaves of Ocotea corymbosa, a native plant of the Brazilian Cerrado. The ethyl acetate extract from culture of this fungus afforded two benzopyran derivatives: (2'S)-2-(propan-2'-ol)-5-hydroxy-benzopyran-4-one (2) and 2,3-dihydro-2-methyl-benzopyran-4,5-diol (4); and two known benzopyrans: 2-methyl-5-methoxy-benzopyran-4-one (1) and (2R)-2,3-dihydro-2-methyl-5-methoxy-benzopyran-4-one (3). The structures of 2 and 4 were established on the basis of comprehensive spectroscopic analysis, mainly using 1D and 2D NMR experiments. The benzopyrans 1 and 2 showed weak in vitro antifungal activity against Cladosporium sphaerospermum and C. cladosporioides. Analyses of the biological activities were also carried out on HeLa (human cervix tumor) and CHO (Chinese hamster ovary) cells, aiming to evaluate their potential effects on mammalian cell line proliferation. Results from both cell lines indicated that compound 2 was able to induce cell proliferation: 70% on HeLa cells and 25% on CHO cells.     

Synthesis and anticancer evaluation of bis(benzimidazoles), bis(benzoxazoles), and benzothiazoles

Four classes of UK-1 analogues were synthesized and their cytotoxicity testing against human A-549, BFTC-905, RD, MES-SA, and HeLa carcinoma cell lines was determined. The results revealed that UK-1 and four of these analogues (15-18) are potent against the cancer cell lines. In particular, compound 16 is more potent than UK-1 against A-549 and HeLa cell lines, and compounds 15, 17, and 18 selectively exhibit potent cytotoxic activity against the BFTV-905 cells (IC50 9.6 microM), A-549 cells (IC50 6.6 microM), and MES-SA cells (IC50 9.2 microM), respectively.     

Nucleases isolated from Chelidonium majus L. milky sap can induce apoptosis in human cervical carcinoma HeLa cells but not in Chinese Hamster Ovary CHO cells

Milky sap isolated from Chelidonium majus L. (Greater Celandine) serves as a rich source of various biologically active substances such as alkaloids, flavonoids and phenolic acids. Previous research showed that the activity of Ch. majus milky sap may depend also on the presence of biologically active proteins. The goal of this study was to evaluate the biological effect of two nucleases isolated from Ch. majus milk sap, CMN1 of 20 kDa and CMN2 of 36 kDa, on HeLa and CHO tumour cell lines. Both studied nucleases together with other proteins in the sap of the plant are involved in stress and defence reactions against different pathogens. After 48 h incubation of CMN1 and CMN2 only with HeLa cells, the dependence between the number of apoptotic lesions and the concentration of applied nuclease was observed. The highest proapoptotic activity was induced by 13.3 ng/ml concentration of CMN2 collected in May (62 +/- 3% HeLa cells were apoptotic). Moreover, the proportion of necrotic cells in all concentrations of the nucleases and both cell lines was relatively low (1-8 +/- 0.5%). In summary, results of this study show that purified nucleases CMN1 and CMN2 isolated from Ch. majus milky sap exhibit apoptotic activity in HeLa tumour cell line, but not in CHO cells, without inflammatory reaction.     

Synthesis and Anticancer Activity of 3‐(Substituted Aroyl)‐4‐(3,4,5‐trimethoxyphenyl)‐1H‐pyrrole Derivatives

A series of 3‐(substituted aroyl)‐4‐(3,4,5‐trimethoxyphenyl)‐1H‐pyrrole derivatives were synthesized and determined for their anticancer activity against eleven cancer cell lines and two normal tissue cell lines using MTT assay. Among the synthesized compounds, compound 3f was the most potent compound against A375, CT‐26, HeLa, MGC80‐3, NCI‐H460 and SGC‐7901 cells (IC₅₀ = 8.2 – 31.7 μm ); 3g , 3n and 3a were the most potent compounds against CHO (IC₅₀ = 8.2 μm ), HCT‐15 (IC₅₀ = 21 μm ) and MCF‐7 cells (IC₅₀ = 18.7 μm ), respectively. Importantly, all the target compounds showed no cytotoxicity towards the normal tissue cell (IC₅₀ > 100 μm ). Thus, these compounds with the potent anticancer activity and low toxicity have potential for the development of new anticancer chemotherapy agents.     

Cytotoxic Alangium alkaloids from Alangium longiflorum

Seven alkaloids (1-7) were isolated from the stem bark of Alangium longiflorum. Compound 1, (-)-10-O-demethylisocephaeline, was isolated for the first time as a naturally occurring product from a plant source. All structures were elucidated by detailed spectroscopic analysis. Biological evaluation showed that 2, 10-O-demethylcephaeline, exhibited potent cytotoxic activity against human lung carcinoma (A549) and breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7) with ED(50) values of 0.013 and 0.062 microM, respectively. The stereoisomer 1 was less potent than 2, and related compounds with different hydroxy/methoxy substitution patterns were also less potent or inactive. Thus, compound 2 merits attention as a cytotoxic lead for further study.     

Grifolin, a potential antitumor natural product from the mushroom Albatrellus confluens, inhibits tumor cell growth by inducing apoptosis in vitro

Grifolin is a natural biologically active substance isolated from the fresh fruiting bodies of the mushroom Albatrellus confluens. Here, for the first time, we describe a novel activity of grifolin, namely its ability to inhibit the growth of tumor cells by the induction of apoptosis. Grifolin strongly inhibited the growth of tumor cell lines: CNE1, HeLa, MCF7, SW480, K562, Raji and B95-8. Analysis of acridine orange (AO)/ethidium bromide (EB) staining and flow cytometry showed that grifolin possessed apoptosis induction activity to CNE1, HeLa, MCF7 and SW480. Furthermore, the cytochrome c release from mitochondria was detected by confocal microscopy in CNE1 cells after a 12h treatment with grifolin. The increase of caspase-8, 9, 3 activities revealed that caspase was a key mediator of the apoptotic pathway induced by grifolin, and the underexpression of Bcl-2 and up-regulation of Bax resulted in the increase of Bax: Bcl-2 ratio, suggesting that Bcl-2 family involved in the control of apoptosis. Owing to the combination of the significant antitumor activity by inducing apoptosis and natural abundance of the compound, grifolin holds the promise of being an interesting antitumor agent that deserves further laboratory and in vivo exploration.     

Tomensides A–D,new antiproliferative phenylpropanoid sucrose esters from Prunus tomentosa leaves

To search for novel cytotoxic constituents against cancer cells as lead structures for drug development, four new 3-phenylpropanoid-triacetyl sucrose esters, named tomensides A–D (1–4), and three known analogs (5–7) were isolated from the leaves of Prunus tomentosa. Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic analyses (1D, 2D NMR, CD and HRESIMS). The cytotoxic activities of all isolates against four human cancer cell lines (MCF-7, A549, HeLa and HT-29) were assayed, and the results showed that these isolates displayed stronger inhibitory activities compared with positive control 5-fluorouracil. Tomenside A (1) was the most active compound with IC₅₀ values of 0.11–0.62 μM against the four tested cell lines. The structure–activity relationship (SAR) of the isolates was also discussed. The primary screening results indicated that these 3-phenylpropanoid-triacetyl sucrose esters might be valuable source for new potent anticancer drug candidates.     

Design and synthesis of harzialactone analogues: promising anticancer agents

New homologues of harzialactone were synthesized using D-glucose as chiral template. Wittig reaction to introduce aromatic moiety in 10 and chemoselective anomeric oxidation of 13 were used as key reactions in our synthesis. Anticancer activity of these target molecules was assessed against five cancer cell lines, P388D1, HL60, COLO-205, Zr-75-1 and HeLa. Both compound 5 and 6, showed significant activity against colon cancer (COLO-205) and cervical cancer (HeLa) and moderate with others. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of harzialactone analogues as potent inhibitors of human colon and cervical cancer.     

Cytotoxic constituents of Achillea clavennae from Montenegro

Examination of the aerial parts of Achillea clavennae afforded eight guaianolides (1-8), three bisabolenes (9-11), four flavonols (12-15), sesamin (lignan) and isofraxidin (coumarin). The structures of the new compounds (2, 4, 5, 7 and 10) were determined by spectroscopic methods. The antiproliferative action of 2, 8, 9 and 12 were tested to HeLa, K562 and Fem-X human cancer cell lines. Guaianolides 2 (9alpha-acetoxyartecanin) and 8 (apressin) showed significant cytotoxic effects to all tested lines and inducumenone (9) exhibited a moderate activity. The most active was flavonol centaureidin (12), already known as cytotoxic compound.     

Design,synthesis and activity evaluation of indole-based double – Branched HDAC1 inhibitors

Histone deacetylases inhibitors (HDACIs) represents effective treatments for cancer. In continuing our efforts to develop novel and potent HDACIs, a series of N-hydroxycinnamamide-based HDACIs with aromatic ring and various aliphatic linker have been successfully designed and synthesized. Biological evaluations established that compounds 4h, 4i, 4j, 4l, 4r showed superior inhibition on histone deacetylase and antiproliferative activity in some solid tumor cell lines [HeLa, SK-N-BE(2), PC-3] compared to the known inhibitor SAHA. Among these analogs, 4l exhibited selectivity to HDAC1.     

Synthesis and structure-activity relationships study of novel anti-tumor carbamate anhydrovinblastine analogues

A series of 3-demethoxycarbonyl-3-carbamate methyl anhydrovinblastine derivatives (compounds 8b-32b) were designed, synthesized, and evaluated for their inhibition activities against human non-small cell lung cancer cell line (A549) and a human cervix epithelial adenocarcinoma cell line (HeLa). The structure-activity relationships of this new series are described in this paper. Cytotoxicity data revealed that the size of substituents and substitution position had important influence on cytotoxic activity. On two cell lines, compounds (8b and 30b) had more potent cytotoxic activity than the lead compound (1e, AVLB). The preliminary antitumor studies of 8b in vivo showed that it might be promising for the development of new antitumor agents.     

Synthesis,Molecular Modeling,and Biological Evaluation of Novel Chiral Thiosemicarbazone Derivatives as Potent Anticancer Agents

A series of new chiral thiosemicarbazones derived from homochiral amines in both enantiomeric forms were synthesized and evaluated for their in vitro antiproliferative activity against A549 (human alveolar adenocarcinoma), MCF‐7 (human breast adenocarcinoma), HeLa (human cervical adenocarcinoma), and HGC‐27 (human stomach carcinoma) cell lines. Some of compounds showed inhibitory activities on the growth of cancer cell lines. Especially, compound 17b exhibited the most potent activity (IC₅₀ 4.6 μM) against HGC‐27 as compared with the reference compound, sindaxel (IC₅₀ 10.3 μM), and could be used as a lead compound to search new chiral thiosemicarbazone derivatives as antiproliferative agents. Chirality 27:177–188, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Induction of histone H1(0) differs with different treatments among different cell lines

Histone H1(0) is an H1 subfraction whose level on the chromatin is inversely correlated with the mitotic index of the cell. We investigated the increase in H1(0) in 6 cell lines when cell division was blocked by 4 methods: 5 mM butyrate, 2% DMSO, serum withdrawal or density inhibition. The 6 cell lines (HeLa S1 and S3, CHO, 3T6, NIE-115 and Vero) responded differently to the treatments as regards the amount of increase in H1(0) and comparisons among the lines reveal no obvious similarities between the lines in the differential effects of the various treatments on H1(0) levels.     

Cytotoxic activity of halogenated monoterpenes from Plocamium cartilagineum

Nine halogenated monoterpenes isolated from the red alga Plocamium cartilagineum have been evaluated for their cytotoxic effects on the tumor cell lines CT26 (murine colon adenocarcinoma), SW480 (human colon adenocarcinoma), HeLa (human cervical adenocarcinoma) and SkMel28 (human malignant melanoma) with several multidrug resistance mechanisms and the mammalian non-tumor cell line CHO (Chinese hamster ovary cells). The activities of these compounds were compared with those of the insecticide gamma-hexachlorocyclohexane (lindane) due to chemical structure similarities. Compounds 1, 2, 3, and 5 exhibited selective cytotoxicity against colon and cervical adenocarcinoma cells. Interestingly, the effect of compound 3 was specific and irreversible to human colon adenocarcinoma SW480 cells, which overexpress the transmembrane P-glycoprotein often related to chemoresistance. None of the anti-tumor doses of these compounds was cytotoxic against CHO cells. Furthermore, analysis of cellular extracts after incubation with the test compounds and rotenone (positive uptake control) demonstrated the intracellular accumulation of 1, 2, 3, and 5.     

Triterpenoid Saponins with Potential Cytotoxic Activities from the Root Bark of Ilex rotunda Thunb.

A new 19‐oxo‐18,19‐seco‐ursane‐type triterpeonoid saponin, laevigin E ( 8 ), together with 17 known compounds ( 1 – 7 and 9 – 18 ) were isolated from the root bark of Ilex rotunda Thunb . Their structures were determined by various spectroscopic analysis. Among them, compounds 6 , 9 , 11 , and 18 were isolated from this species for the first time, while compounds 10 and 12 were firstly isolated from the family Aquifoliaceae. Biological activity assay showed that all triterpenoids exhibit moderate cytotoxic activities against MCF7, A549, HeLa and LN229 cell lines. The four triterpenoid saponins ( 3 , 4 , 6 , and 8 ) exhibit slightly better activities compared to the four triterpenoid sapogenins ( 1 , 2 , 5 , and 7 ). Compound 8 showed the best cytotoxicity against A549, HeLa and LN229 cell lines with IC₅₀ of 17.83, 22.58 and 30.98 μm , respectively.     

Potent antitumor activity of synthetic 1,2-Naphthoquinones and 1,4-Naphthoquinones

Rhinacanthone (1) and two 1,2-pyranonaphthoquinones (2,3) were synthesized and found to show very potent cytotoxicity against three cancer cell lines (KB, HeLa and HepG(2)) with IC(50) values of 0.92-9.63 microM, whereas the corresponding hydroxylated derivative 4 had reduced cytotoxicity (IC(50) values of 7.61-24.13 microM). Three 1,2-furanonaphthoquinone derivatives (5-7) were also synthesized with similar cytotoxicity as 1,2-pyranonaphthoquinones. In comparison to 1,2-naphthoquinones, six 1,4-naphthoquinones derivatives fused with pyran ring (8-10) and furan ring (11-13) were synthesized and they showed less cytotoxicity or inactive to the cancer cell lines. Moreover, compound 13 had significant cytotoxicity against HeLa cell line (IC(50) value of 9.25 microM) while it showed no toxic to vero cell.     

Novel benzotriazole N-acylarylhydrazone hybrids: Design,synthesis, anticancer activity,effects on cell cycle profile,caspase-3 mediated apoptosis and FAK inhibition

A series of novel benzotriazole N-acylarylhydrazone hybrids was synthesized according fragment-based design strategy. All the synthesized compounds were evaluated for their anticancer activity against 60 human tumor cell lines by NCI (USA). Five compounds: 3d, 3e, 3f, 3o and 3q exhibited significant to potent anticancer activity at low concentrations. Compound 3q showed the most prominent broad-spectrum anticancer activity against 34 tumor cell lines, with mean growth inhibition percent of 45.80%. It exerted the highest potency against colon HT-29 cell line, with cell growth inhibition 86.86%. All leukemia cell lines were highly sensitive to compound 3q. Additionally, compound 3q demonstrated lethal activity to MDA-MB-435 belonging melanoma. Compound 3e exhibited the highest anticancer activity against leukemic CCRF-CEM and HL-60(TB) cell lines, with cell growth inhibition 86.69% and 86.42%, respectively. Moreover, it exerted marked potency against ovarian OVCAR-3 cancer cell line, with cell growth inhibition 78.24%. Four compounds: 3d, 3e, 3f and 3q were further studied through determination of IC₅₀ values against the most sensitive cancer cell lines. The four compounds exhibited highly potent anticancer activity against ovarian cancer OVCAR-3 and leukemia HL-60 (TB) cell lines, with IC₅₀ values in nano-molar range between 25 and 130 nM. They showed 18–2.3 folds more potent anticancer activity than doxorubicin. The most prominent compound was 3e, (IC₅₀ values 29 and 25 nM against OVCAR-3 and HL-60 (TB) cell lines, respectively), representing 10 and 18 folds more potency than doxorubicin. The anti-proliferative activity of these four compounds appeared to correlate well with their ability to inhibit FAK at nano-molar range between 44.6 and 80.75 nM. Compound 3e was a potent, inhibitor of FAK and Pyk2 activity with IC₅₀ values of 44.6 and 70.19 nM, respectively. It was 1.6 fold less potent for Pyk2 than FAK. Additionally, it displayed inhibition in cell based assay measuring phosphorylated-FAK (IC₅₀ = 32.72 nM). Inhibition of FAK enzyme led to a significant increase in the level of active caspase-3, compared to control (11.35 folds), accumulation of cells in pre-G1 phase and annexin-V and propidium iodide staining in addition to cell cycle arrest at G2/M phase indicating that cell death proceeded through an apoptotic mechanism.     

Ganoderic acid Mf and S induce mitochondria mediated apoptosis in human cervical carcinoma HeLa cells

In this work, the effects of a pair of positional isomer of ganoderic acids (GAs), namely ganoderic acid Mf (GA-Mf) and ganoderic acid S (GA-S) purified from the fermented mycelia of Ganoderma lucidum, on induction of cell apoptosis and the apoptotic pathway in HeLa cells were investigated. The results demonstrate that both isomers decreased cell population growth on various human carcinoma cell lines by MTT assay, while GA-Mf had better selectivity between normal and cancer cells. The flow cytometry analysis indicated that treatment of HeLa cells with GA-S caused cell cycle arrest in the S phase, while GA-Mf caused cell cycle arrest in the G1 phase. Compared with GA-S, GA-Mf had more potent increase in the number of early and late apoptotic cells. Treatment of HeLa cells with each isomer decreased the mitochondria membrane potential and caused the release of cytochrome c from mitochondria into the cytosol. In addition, stimulation of caspase-3 and caspase-9 activity was observed. The Bax/Bcl-2 ratio was also increased in GA-treated HeLa cells. The results demonstrated that both isomers GA-Mf and GA-S induced apoptosis of human HeLa cells through a mitochondria mediated pathway, but they had the different cell cycle arrest specificity. The findings will be helpful to the development of useful cancer chemopreventive compounds from G. lucidum.     

Methanol extract from Vietnamese Caesalpinia sappan induces apoptosis in HeLa cells

Background

This study evaluated the cytotoxic activity of extracts from Caesalpinia sappan heartwood against multiple cancer cell lines using an MTT cell viability assay. The cell death though induction of apoptosis was as indicated by DNA fragmentation and caspase-3 enzyme activation.

Results

A methanol extract from C. sappan (MECS) showed cytotoxic activity against several of the cancer cell lines. The most potent activity exhibited by the MECS was against HeLa cells with an IC₅₀ value of 26.5 ± 3.2 μg/mL. Treatment of HeLa cells with various MECS concentrations resulted in growth inhibition and induction of apoptosis, as indicated by DNA fragmentation and caspase-3 enzyme activation.

Conclusion

This study is the first report of the anticancer properties of the heartwood of C. sappan native to Vietnam. Our findings demonstrate that C. sappan heartwood may have beneficial applications in the field of anticancer drug discovery.     

Synthesis and antitumor activities of novel dipeptide derivatives derived from dehydroabietic acid

A series of dipeptide derivatives from dehydroabietic acid were designed and synthesized as novel antitumor agents. The antitumor activities screening indicated that many compounds showed moderate to high levels of inhibition activities against NCI-H460, HepG2, SK-OV-3, BEL-7404, HeLa and HCT-116 cancer cell lines and that some displayed more potent inhibitory activities than commercial anticancer drug 5-fluorouracil. The mechanism of representative compound 7b was studied by AO/EB staining, Hoechst 33258 staining, JC-1 mitochondrial membrane potential staining, TUNEL assay, DNA ladder assay and flow cytometry, which exhibited that the compound could induce apoptosis in HeLa cells. Further investigation showed that compound 7b induced apoptosis of HeLa cells through a mitochondrial pathway.