Clusia studartiana compounds found to be toxic to melanoma and leukemia cells

Brazilian researchers isolated triterpenes from Clusia studartiana and evaluated their cytotoxicity in vitro. They reported their findings in an article published in the Journal of Medicinal Plants Research.

• Plants in the Clusiaceae (garcinia) family are spread throughout tropical and temperate zones.
• Many of them contain a variety of triterpenes, which have been reported as selective anti-tumor agents.
• For their study, the researchers characterized triterpenes in C. studartiana, then tested their cytotoxicity using melanoma (SKMEL 28) and myeloid leukemia (K562) cell lines.
• Using phytochemical methods, they isolated and purified three pentacyclic triterpenes, which were identified as 3-oxo-friedelin (1), 3-B-hydroxy-friedelin (2) and 3-oxo-olean-12-en-28-oic-acid (3) by spectroscopic methods.
• They evaluated cytotoxicity by MTT assay, apoptosis/necrosis by Annexin V/PI and caspase activity by FLICA in flow cytometry. P-gp modulation was measured by interference in the efflux of Rhodamine 123.
• The researchers reported that triterpene 2 and 3 inhibited K562 cells proliferation, but only compound 3 increased the percentage of AnnexinV+PI- in cells.
• Triterpene 3 also increased caspase 3/7+ cells by 40 percent and inhibited P-gp activity.

Based on these findings, the researchers concluded that 3-oxo-olean-12-en-28-oic-acid from C. studartiana is an anti-tumor agent that can inhibit the growth of human myeloid leukemia cells and induce apoptosis by activating caspases 3/7.

Read the full study at this link.

Journal Reference:

Lavínia DCB, Marcia VDC, Vagner PDS, Alan PH, Priscila MDS, Ana PGAF, Maria RF, Andre LFS. EVALUATION OF CYTOTOXIC ACTIVITY OF TRITERPENES FROM CLUSIA STUDARTIANA. Journal of Medicinal Plants Research. 31 August 2019;13(15):335–342. DOI: 10.5897/jmpr2019.6800