Planta Med 2013; 79 - PK3
DOI: 10.1055/s-0033-1348627

Anti-leukemic Metabolites from the Red Sea Soft Coral Sinularia terspilli

MM Radwan 1, G Ma 1, MM Thabet 2, R Mohamed 3, MA Seliem 4, TA Mohamed 5, AS Wanas 1, M ElSohly 1, 6
  • 1National Center for Natural Products Research
  • 6Department of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy, University of Mississippi, University, MS,3867, USA
  • 2Faculty of Pharmacy, Misr University for Science and Technology, Egypt
  • 3Faculty of Pharmacy, Beni Suef University, Egypt
  • 4Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of pharmacy, Cairo University, Egypt
  • 5National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Red Sea Branch, Hurghada, Egypt

Ten compounds, including five sterols (1 – 5), three sesquiterpenes (6 – 8) and two fatty acid esters (9 – 10) have been isolated from the Red Sea soft coral Sinularia terspilli. The anti-leukemic activities of the isolated compounds and some acetylated derivatives (1Ac, 3Ac, 4Ac, 5Ac) were evaluated. Compounds 4, 5, and 5-Ac exhibited strong cytotoxic activity against human leukemia cell lines HL60 and K562 with IC50 values of 4.0, 2.0, and 25 nM respectively for HL60 and 5.0, 3.0, and 40 nM for K562.