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Planta Med 2011; 77(17): 1912-1915
DOI: 10.1055/s-0031-1279994
Biological and Pharmacological Activity
Letters
© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

Cytotoxic Furanogermacranolides from the Flowers of Helianthus angustifolius

Nadine Kretschmer1 , Martina Blunder1 , Olaf Kunert2 , Gerald N. Rechberger3 , Rudolf Bauer1 , Wolfgang Schuehly1
  • 1Department of Pharmacognosy, Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Karl-Franzens-University Graz, Graz, Austria
  • 2Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Karl-Franzens-University Graz, Graz, Austria
  • 3Institute of Molecular Biosciences, Karl-Franzens-University Graz, Graz, Austria
Further Information

Publication History

received March 10, 2011 revised May 17, 2011

accepted May 21, 2011

Publication Date:
14 June 2011 (online)

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Abstract

The dichloromethane extract of the flowers of Helianthus angustifolius L. (Asteraceae, Heliantheae) was investigated in vitro for its cytotoxic activity using human cancer cell lines: CCRF-CEM leukemia, MDA-MB-231 breast cancer, U251 glioblastoma, HCT 116 colon cancer cells, and the human lung fibroblast cell line MRC-5. Cytotoxicity-guided fractionation led to the isolation of four related heliangolide-type sesquiterpene lactones. The structures were elucidated by means of NMR spectroscopy and high-resolution mass spectrometry. Of the investigated compounds, 8-methacrylyl-4,15-iso-atriplicolide (1) showed the highest activity against all tested cancer cell lines with IC50 values ranging from 0.26 ± 0.01 µM for CCRF-CEM cells to 4.22 ± 0.26 µM for MRC-5 cells.

Key words

Helianthus angustifolius - Asteraceae - heliangolide - isoatriplicolide - cancer cell lines - MRC-5 lung fibroblast cells

Supporting Information

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Dr. Wolfgang Schuehly

Department of Pharmacognosy
Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Karl-Franzens-University Graz

Universitätsplatz 4

8010 Graz

Austria

Phone: +43 316 3 80 55 27

Fax: +43 316 3 80 98 60

Email: wolfgang.schuehly@uni-graz.at