Cytotoxic quinones from the aerial parts of Morinda umbellata L

Changkang Li; Xianming Su; Fenghua Li; Jia Fu; Hongqing Wang; Baoming Li; Ruoyun Chen; Jie Kang

doi:10.1016/j.phytochem.2019.112096

Cytotoxic quinones from the aerial parts of Morinda umbellata L

Phytochemistry. 2019 Nov:167:112096. doi: 10.1016/j.phytochem.2019.112096. Epub 2019 Aug 27.

Authors

Changkang Li¹, Xianming Su², Fenghua Li³, Jia Fu⁴, Hongqing Wang⁵, Baoming Li⁶, Ruoyun Chen⁷, Jie Kang⁸

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, No. 1 Xiannongtan Street, Beijing, 100050, China. Electronic address: lichangkang@imm.ac.cn.
² State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, No. 1 Xiannongtan Street, Beijing, 100050, China. Electronic address: sxmxiaomuchong@163.com.
³ State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, No. 1 Xiannongtan Street, Beijing, 100050, China. Electronic address: lifhcc@163.com.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, No. 1 Xiannongtan Street, Beijing, 100050, China. Electronic address: fujia@imm.ac.cn.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, No. 1 Xiannongtan Street, Beijing, 100050, China. Electronic address: wanghongqing@imm.ac.cn.
⁶ State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, No. 1 Xiannongtan Street, Beijing, 100050, China. Electronic address: libaoming@imm.ac.cn.
⁷ State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, No. 1 Xiannongtan Street, Beijing, 100050, China. Electronic address: rych@imm.ac.cn.
⁸ State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, No. 1 Xiannongtan Street, Beijing, 100050, China. Electronic address: jiekang@imm.ac.cn.

PMID: 31470169
DOI: 10.1016/j.phytochem.2019.112096

Abstract

Although Morinda umbellata L. has been used in numerous folk medicines, there is a lack of phytochemical studies on this plant. Sixteen undescribed quinones, namely, ten anthraquinones (umbellatas A-J), one naphthohydroquinone (umbellata K), one naphthohydroquinone dimer (umbellata L), and four dinaphthofuran quinones (umbellatas M-P), were isolated from the aerial parts of Morinda umbellata L. (Rubiaceae). The structures of all the isolated quinones were elucidated based on spectroscopic methods. Four of the unknown quinones (umbellatas A, H, K and M) showed potent cytotoxic effects against A431, A2780, NCI-H460, HCT116, HepG2, and MCF-7 human cancer cell lines with IC₅₀ values of 1.3-7.1 μM. These results reveal potential lead compounds for the development of new anticancer agents.

Keywords: Cytotoxicity; Morinda umbellata L. (Rubiaceae); Quinones.

MeSH terms

Antineoplastic Agents / chemistry
Antineoplastic Agents / pharmacology*
Cell Line, Tumor
Cell Proliferation / drug effects
Cell Survival / drug effects
Humans
Morinda / chemistry*
Plant Components, Aerial / chemistry*
Quinones / chemistry
Quinones / pharmacology*

Substances

Antineoplastic Agents
Quinones