Polyhydroxylated steroids from the South China Sea soft coral Sarcophyton sp. and their cytotoxic and antiviral activities

Mar Drugs. 2013 Dec 2;11(12):4788-98. doi: 10.3390/md11124788.

Abstract

Chemical investigation on the soft coral Sarcophyton sp. collected from the South China Sea yielded three new polyhydroxylated steroids, compounds (1-3), together with seven known ones (4-10). Their structures were established by extensive spectroscopic methods and comparison of their data with those of the related known compounds. All the isolates possessed the 3β,5α,6β-trihydroxylated steroidal nucleus. The cytotoxicities against selected HL-60, HeLa and K562 tumor cell lines and anti-H1N1 (Influenza A virus (IAV)) activities for the isolates were evaluated. Compounds 2, 3 and 5-8 exhibited potent activities against K562 cell lines with IC₅₀ values ranging from 6.4 to 10.3 μM. Compounds 1, 6-8 potently inhibited the growth of HL-60 tumor cell lines, and 6 also showed cytotoxicity towards HeLa cell lines. In addition, preliminary structure-activity relationships for the isolates are discussed. The OAc group at C-11 is proposed to be an important pharmacophore for their cytotoxicities in the 3β,5α,6β-triol steroids. Compounds 4 and 9 exhibited significant anti-H1N1 IAV activity with IC₅₀ values of 19.6 and 36.7 μg/mL, respectively.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Anthozoa / chemistry*
  • Antiviral Agents / chemistry*
  • Antiviral Agents / isolation & purification
  • Antiviral Agents / pharmacology*
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • China
  • Cytotoxins / chemistry*
  • Cytotoxins / isolation & purification
  • Cytotoxins / pharmacology*
  • HL-60 Cells
  • HeLa Cells
  • Humans
  • Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype / drug effects
  • K562 Cells
  • Oceans and Seas
  • Steroids / chemistry*
  • Steroids / isolation & purification
  • Steroids / pharmacology*
  • Structure-Activity Relationship

Substances

  • Antiviral Agents
  • Cytotoxins
  • Steroids