Planta Med 2001; 67(1): 79-81
DOI: 10.1055/s-2001-10625
Letter

© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York

Cytotoxicity of Iridals, Triterpenoids from Iris, on Human Tumor Cell Lines A2780 and K562

Jean-Paul Bonfils1,*, Frédéric Pinguet2 , Stéphane Culine2 , Yves Sauvaire1
  • 1 Laboratoire de Recherche sur les Substances Naturelles Végétales, Université Montpellier II, France
  • 2 Laboratoire d'Oncopharmacologie et Service d'Oncologie, C.R.L.C. Val d'Aurelle, Montpellier, France
Further Information

Publication History

February 17, 2000

May 21, 2000

Publication Date:
31 December 2001 (online)

Abstract

Six different triterpenoids (known iridals) extracted from Iris germanica L. were purified and bioassayed on two cultured human tumor cell lines: A2780 and K562 (and for each one a drug-sensitive and a drug-resistant cell line). All of the tested iridals had an IC50 in the 0.1 to 5.3 μg/ml range. Some of them were shown to be more effective than doxorubicine. Toxicity of iridals on multi-drug resistance (MDR) expressing cell lines seemed to indicate that the effects of these triterpenoids are less affected by MDR than those of doxorubicine or taxol.

References

  • 1 Wong S M, Oshima Y, Pezzuto J M, Fong H HS, Farnsworth N R. Plant anticancer agents XXXIX: triterpenes from Iris missouriensis (Iridaceae).  Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. 1986;  75 317-20
  • 2 Ito H, Miyake Y, Yohida T. New piscicidal triterpenes from Iris germanica .  Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin. 1995;  43 1260-2
  • 3 Ito H, Onoue S, Miyake Y, Yohida T. Iridal-type triterpenoids with ichthyotoxic activity from Belamcanda chinensis .  Planta Medica. 1999;  62 89-93
  • 4 Marner F J, Krick W, Gellrich B, Jaenicke L, Winter W. Irigermanal and iridogermanal. Two new triterpenoids from rhizomes of Iris germanica L.  Journal of Organic Chemistry. 1982;  47 2531-8
  • 5 Bonfils J P, Pinguet F, Culine S, Sauvaire Y. French Patent n°9603892 (21 p). 1996 PCT Int. Appl. N°97/00560. 1997 EC, USA, Canada, Japan;
  • 6 Bonfils J P, Sauvaire Y, Maurin L. Evidence of cycloiridals as membrane constituents: effects on fluidity patterns compared to those of cholesterol.  Planta. 1996;  200 353-7
  • 7 Awad A B, Chen Y C, Fink C, Hennessey T. β-Sitosterol inhibits HT-29 human colon cancer cell growth and alters membrane lipids.  Anticancer Research. 1996;  16 2797-804
  • 8 Okasaki T, Bell R M, Hannum Y A. Sphingomyelin turnover induced by vitamin D3 in HL-60 cells. Role in cell differentiation.  Journal of Biological Chemistry. 1989;  264 19076-80
  • 9 Hannun Y A. Functions of ceramide in coordinating cellular responses to stress.  Science. 1996;  274 1855-9
  • 10 Bonfils J P, Marner F J, Sauvaire Y. An epoxidized iridal from Iris germanica var. “Rococo”.  Phytochemistry. 1998;  48 751-3
  • 11 Krick W, Marner F J, Jaenicke L. Isolation and structure determination of the precursors of α- and γ-irone and homologous compounds from I. pallida and I. florentina .  Zeitschrift für Naturforschung. 1983;  38c 179-84
  • 12 Abe F, Chen R F, Yamauchi T. Iridals from Belamcanda chinensis and Iris japonica .  Phytochemistry. 1991;  30 (10) 3379-82
  • 13 Marner F J, Littek A, Arold R, Seferiadis K, Jaenicke L. Isolation and structure determination of new spiro-bicyclic triterpenoids from I. pseudacorus .  Liebigs Annalen der Chemie. 1990;  563-67

Dr. Jean-Paul Bonfils

Laboratoire de Recherche sur les Substances Naturelles Végétales, UPR ES 1677

Université Montpellier II

Place Eugène Bataillon, cc 024

34095 Montpellier Cedex 5

France

Email: bonfils@univ-montp2.fr

Fax: (00 33) 04 67 14 36 12