In research on natural molecules with cytotoxic activity that can be used for the development of new anticancer agents, the cytotoxic activity of hexane, chloroform, and methanol extracts from the roots of Acacia schaffneri against colon, lung, and skin cancer cell lines was explored. The hexane extract showed the best activity with an average IC50 of 10.6 µg mL-1. From this extract, three diterpenoids, phyllocladan-16α,19-diol (1), phyllocladan-16α-ol (2), and phylloclad-16-en-3-ol (3), were isolated and characterized by their physical and spectroscopic properties. Diterpenoids 1 and 2 were tested against the same cancer cell lines, as well as their healthy counterparts, CCD841 CoN, MRC5, and VH10, respectively. Compound 1 showed moderate activity (IC50 values between 24 and 70 μg mL-1), although it showed a selective effect against cancer cell lines. Compound 2 was practically inactive. The cytotoxicity mechanism of 1 was analyzed by cell cycle, indicating that the compound induces G0/G1 cell cycle arrest. This effect might be generated by DNA alkylation damage. In addition, compound 1 decreased migration of HT29 cells.
Keywords: G0/G1 cell cycle arrest; cytotoxicity; migration; phyllocladanes.