Planta Med 2012; 78 - PI179
DOI: 10.1055/s-0032-1320867

In vitro growth inhibitory effects of 13, 28-epoxyoleanane triterpene saponins in cancer cells

M Haddad 1, 2, AC Lelamer 1, L Moreno Y Banuls 3, M Carraz 1, 2, P Vasquez 4, A Vaisberg 4, D Castillo 4, M Sauvain 1, 2, R Rojas 4, R Kiss 3
  • 1Université de Toulouse, UPS, UMR152 Pharma-Dev, Toulouse, France
  • 2IRD UMR 152 Pharma-Dev; Mission IRD, casilla 18–1209, Lima, Peru
  • 3Laboratoire de Toxicologie, Faculté de Pharmacie, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium
  • 4Laboratorios de Investigación y Desarrollo, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru

Two new 13,28-epoxyoleanane triterpene saponins, magnosides A (1) and B (2), were isolated from the 95% ethanolic extract of Cybianthus magnus (Mez) Pipoly roots. Their structures were deduced by a combination of spectral analyses and chemical evidences as compared to data reported in the literature. The bioactivity of compounds 1 and 2 was evaluated in vitro against different cellular models including Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Leishmania amazonensis axenic amastigotes, mouse peritoneal macrophages and eight cancer cell lines. While neither of the tested compounds displayed any activity against M. tuberculosis, both exhibited anti-leishmanial activity against axenic amastigotes as well as in vitro growth inhibitory activity against all tested cancer cell lines with IC50 growth inhibitory concentrations ranging between 4 and 33µM. The compounds displayed similar growth inhibitory activity in cancer cell lines sensitive to pro-apoptotic stimuli versus those displaying various levels of resistance to such stimuli. Quantitative videomicroscopy analyses revealed that compounds 1 and 2 are cytotoxic.