Cytotoxic agarofurans from the seeds of the Australian rainforest vine Celastrus subspicata

An anti-inflammatory active extract from the seeds of the Australian rainforest vine Celastrus subspicata was identified from high throughput screening of a plant and marine invertebrate extract library using an assay which detects down regulation of expression of pro-inflammatory genes associated with the glucocorticoid receptor ligand complex. The anti-inflammatory properties of the extract were found to be associated with a group of fatty acids that were present in the extract in high yield. Two agarofurans were also isolated and shown to possess minimal anti-inflammatory activity and to be cytotoxic towards HeLa cancer cells.