20-Hydroxyecdysone from Dacrycarpus imbricatus bark inhibits the proliferation of acute myeloid leukemia cells

Trinh Thi Thuy; Nguyen Thanh Tam; Nguyen Thi Hoang Anh; Dang Viet Hau; Dinh Thi Phong; Le Quoc Thang; Sabrina Adorisio; Tran Van Sung; Domenico V Delfino

doi:10.1016/j.apjtm.2017.01.009

20-Hydroxyecdysone from Dacrycarpus imbricatus bark inhibits the proliferation of acute myeloid leukemia cells

Asian Pac J Trop Med. 2017 Feb;10(2):157-159. doi: 10.1016/j.apjtm.2017.01.009. Epub 2017 Jan 21.

Authors

Trinh Thi Thuy¹, Nguyen Thanh Tam¹, Nguyen Thi Hoang Anh¹, Dang Viet Hau¹, Dinh Thi Phong², Le Quoc Thang³, Sabrina Adorisio⁴, Tran Van Sung¹, Domenico V Delfino⁵

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Chemistry, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, 18 Hoang Quoc Viet, Nghia Do, Cau Giay, Ha Noi, Viet Nam.
² Vietnam National Museum of Nature, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, 18 Hoang Quoc Viet, Nghia Do, Cau Giay, Ha Noi, Viet Nam.
³ Hue University's College of Educations, 34 Le Loi, Hue City, Viet Nam.
⁴ Section of Pharmacology, Department of Medicine, University of Perugia, Piazzale Severi, S. Andrea delle Fratte, 06132 Perugia, Italy.
⁵ Section of Pharmacology, Department of Medicine, University of Perugia, Piazzale Severi, S. Andrea delle Fratte, 06132 Perugia, Italy. Electronic address: domenico.delfino@unipg.it.

PMID: 28237481
DOI: 10.1016/j.apjtm.2017.01.009

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the anti-proliferative effects of 20-hydroxyecdysone isolated from the bark of Dacrycarpus imbricatus (Blume) de Laub.

Methods: Column chromatography was used for isolation of compounds from plant material. The structure of the isolated compound was identified by mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance techniques, including HSQC, HMBC, NOE-difference experiments. The isolated compound was tested for its anti-proliferative activity in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and OCI-AML cells.

Results: Compound 1 was isolated from the ethyl acetate fraction of Dacrycarpus imbricatus barks by column chromatography. Its chemical structure was identified as 20-hydroxyecdysone (20HE), a cholestane-type ecdysteroid, by a combination of mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometric analyses. Our goal was to test the anti-proliferative activity of 20HE using the OCI-AML cell line. 20HE significantly decreased OCI cell number at a concentration of 1 mg/mL, whereas lower concentrations were ineffective. Moreover, this decrease was due to partial blockage of the G₁/S phase of the cell cycle, with a reduction of cells in the G₂M phase, not due to increased apoptosis.

Conclusions: This indicates that 20HE significantly decreases the number of cells in the G₁/S phase of the cell cycle in human AML cells. This is the first time that the anti-proliferative activity of 20HE against a human tumor cell line has been reported.

Keywords: 20-Hydroxyecdysone; Acute myeloid leukemia; Dacrycarpus imbricatus; Ecdysteroid; Proliferation.