Discovery of immunosuppressive Lupane-type Triterpenoids from Hypericum longistylum

Abstract

The phytochemistry study of Hypericum longistylum afforded one new degraded lupane-type triterpenoid, triterhyper A (1), and seven known congeners (2–8). The structures of those natural products were identified by extensive spectroscopic techniques and single crystal diffraction tests. Notably, triterhyper A (1) possessing an unusual 28-nor-lupane skeleton. More significantly, compounds 1–3 exhibited potential inhibitory effects on murine splenocytes proliferation stimulated by anti-CD3/anti-CD28 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS), with IC₅₀ values ranging from (4.56 ± 0.45) μM to (18.34 ± 2.34) μM, highlighting that those isolates as potential lead compounds in the development of immunosuppressive drugs for autoimmune disease treatment.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Hypericum longistylum
• bioassay-directed isolation
• lupane-type triterpenoid
• immunosuppressive activity

Acknowledgements

We thank the Analytical and Testing Center at Huazhong University of Science and Technology for the acquisition of spectroscopic data.

Disclosure statement

The authors of the present manuscript have declared that no competing interests exist.

Additional information

Funding

This work was financially supported by the Program for Changjiang Scholars of Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China (No. T2016088); the National natural Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars (No. 81725021); the National Science and Technology Project of China (2018ZX09201001-001-003); Innovative Research Groups of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81721005); the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31700294); the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 82003633 and 82001700); Open Foundation of Hubei Key Laboratory of Wudang Local Chinese Medicine Research (WDCM2019004); the Academic Frontier Youth Team of HUST; and the Integrated Innovative Team for Major Human Diseases Program of Tongji Medical College (HUST).