Constituents of Brazilian red propolis and their preferential cytotoxic activity against human pancreatic PANC-1 cancer cell line in nutrient-deprived condition

Suresh Awale, Feng Li, Hiroko Onozuka, Hiroyasu Esumi, Yasuhiro Tezuka, Shigetoshi Kadota*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

137 Scopus citations

Abstract

Human pancreatic cancer cells such as PANC-1 are known to exhibit marked tolerance to nutrition starvation that enables them to survive for prolonged period of time even under extremely nutrient-deprived conditions. Thus, elimination of this tolerance to nutrition starvation is regarded as a novel approach in anticancer drug development. In this study, the MeOH soluble extract of Brazilian red propolis was found to kill 100% PANC-1 cells preferentially in the nutrient-deprived condition at the concentration of 10 μg/mL. Further phytochemical investigation led to the isolation of 43 compounds including three new compounds, (6aS,11aS)-6a-ethoxymedicarpan (1), 2-(2′,4′-dihydroxyphenyl)-3-methyl-6-methoxybenzofuran (2), and 2,6-dihydroxy-2-[(4-hydroxyphenyl)methyl]-3-benzofuranone (3). Among them, (6aR,11aR)-3,8-dihydroxy-9-methoxypterocarpan (21, DMPC) displayed the most potent 100% preferential cytotoxicity (PC100) at the concentration of 12.5 μM. Further study on the mode of cell death induced by DMPC against PANC-1 cells indicated that killing process was not accompanied by DNA fragmentation, rather through a nonapoptotic pathway accompanied by necrotic-type morphological changes.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)181-189
Number of pages9
JournalBioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry
Volume16
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2008/01/01

Keywords

  • 3,8-Dihydroxy-9-methoxypterocarpan
  • Anti-austerity
  • Anti-cancer agent
  • PANC-1
  • Pancreatic cancer
  • Red propolis
  • Screening strategy

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Biochemistry
  • Molecular Medicine
  • Molecular Biology
  • Pharmaceutical Science
  • Drug Discovery
  • Clinical Biochemistry
  • Organic Chemistry

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Constituents of Brazilian red propolis and their preferential cytotoxic activity against human pancreatic PANC-1 cancer cell line in nutrient-deprived condition'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this