Constituents from Chloranthus multistachys and their cytotoxic activities against various human cancer cell lines

Abstract

Two new furanoeremophilane sesquiterpenoids, namely, 6,9-dioxo-1α,4α-dihydroxy-furanoeremophilane (1) and 4α,5α-epoxy-6,9-dioxo-1α-hydroxyl-furanoeremophilane (2), and 10 known compounds were isolated from the whole plant of Chloranthus multistachys, and compound 3 was converted to derivative 3a. Their structures were determined based on extensive spectroscopic analysis. All compounds were evaluated by using five cancer cell lines: PC3, LNcap, A549, K562, and HEL. The derivative 3a exhibited excellent cytotoxic activities, with the IC₅₀ against HEL cells being the lowest at 1.322 ± 0.08 μM, which was comparable to that of the positive control (doxorubicin). Mechanism studies showed that the anticancer activity of 3a may be associated with cell cycle regulation.

Keywords:

• Chloranthus multistachys
• sesquiterpenoids
• cytotoxic activities

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was financially supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2019YFC1712500); the Science and Social Development of Anshun City ([ASKS(2020)07], ASKP[2019]3); the Science and Technology Department of Guizhou Province (gzwjkj2019-1-190); the Science and Technology Department of Guizhou Province (QKHHBZ [2020]3003); and State Administration of GZTCM (QZYY-2020-088).