lupane and Lung-Neoplasms

Germanicane-type triterpenes allobetulin (3) and 28-oxoallobetulin (4) can be obtained by the Wagner-Meerwein rearrangement of the more available lupane-type triterpenes betulin (1) and betulinic acid (2), respectively. The medical uses of betulinic acid (2) and its derivatives are limited because of their poor hydrosolubility and pharmacokinetics properties. In order to overcome this major problem, we synthesized and studied the in vitro anticancer activity of a series of 3beta-O-monodesmosidic saponins derived from betulin (14-16), betulinic acid (20-22), allobetulin (23-28) and 28-oxoallobetulin (29-34) based on six different natural sugar residues (d-glucose, l-rhamnose, d-arabinose, d-galactose, d-mannose and d-xylose). This structure-activity relationship study confirmed that betulinic acid saponins are generally better in vitro anticancer agents than those derived from betulin with the exception of betulin 3beta-O-alpha-d-mannopyranoside (15) which exerted a potent cytotoxic activity against lung carcinoma (A-549) and colorectal adenocarcinoma (DLD-1) human cell lines with IC(50) ranging from 7.3 to 10.1mumol/L. Furthermore, although the synthesis of novel germanicane-type saponins was carried out with success, the bioactivity measured for these glycosides was not as high as we anticipated since only the 3beta-O-beta-d-glucopyranoside and 3beta-O-beta-d-galactopyranoside of allobetulin (23,24) showed moderate anticancer activity (IC(50) 30-40 micromol/L).

Topics: Adenocarcinoma; Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic; Betula; Cells, Cultured; Colorectal Neoplasms; Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor; Fibroblasts; Humans; Lung Neoplasms; Molecular Structure; Saponins; Structure-Activity Relationship; Triterpenes

Three new pentacyclic triterpenoids: (20R)-3-oxolupan-30-al (1), (20S)-3-oxolupan-30-al (2) and (20R)-28-hydroxylupen-30-al-3-one (3), along with (20S)-3beta-hydroxylupan-30-al (4), the latter previously described as a constituent of an epimeric mixture, were isolated from Acacia mellifera. In addition, the known metabolites 30-hydroxylup-20-(29)-en-3-one (5), 30-hydroxylup-20-(29)-en-3beta-ol (6), atranorin, methyl 2,4-dihydroxy-3,6 dimethyl benzoate, sitosterol-3beta-O-glucoside and linoleic acid were found in the analyzed plant species for the first time. The structures of the new metabolites were elucidated by extensive spectroscopic analyses and their relative stereochemistry was determined by NOESY experiments. The new metabolite 3 exhibited significant cytotoxic activity against the NSCLC-N6 cell line, derived from a human non-small-cell bronchopulmonary carcinoma.

Topics: Acacia; Antineoplastic Agents; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung; Cell Line, Tumor; Humans; Lung Neoplasms; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Triterpenes