Isochondodendrine and 2′-norcocsuline: additional alkaloids from Triclisia subcordata induce cytotoxicity and apoptosis in ovarian cancer cell linesThis study is presented at the 5th International Conference on the Mechanism of Action of Nutraceuticals, Aberdeen, UK.Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c7ra08032h

• Main Authors: Uche, Fidelia Ijeoma, Abed, Mohammed N, Abdullah, Marwan I, Drijfhout, Falko P, McCullagh, James, Claridge, Timothy W. D, Richardson, Alan, Li, Wen-Wu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 12-09-2017
• ISSN: 2046-2069
• DOI: 10.1039/c7ra08032h

Triclisia subcordata
Oliv (Menispermeaceae) is used in herbal medicine for the treatment of cancer and other diseases in Africa. This study aims to isolate minor alkaloids present in this plant and assay their cytotoxic activities. Isochondodendrine and 2′-norcocsuline as two minor alkaloids together with the abundant cycleanine were isolated and identified by mass spectrometry and NMR spectroscopy. Both isochondodendrine and 2′-norcocsuline exhibited
in vitro
cytotoxicity in four ovarian cancer cell lines (A2780, IGROV-1, OVCAR-8, and OVCAR-4) with IC
50
ranges of 3.5-17 μM and 0.8-6.2 μM respectively. These alkaloids showed mostly slightly weaker potencies when tested using normal human ovarian epithelial cells, IC
50
= 10.5 ± 1.2 μM and 8.0 ± 0.2 μM for isochondodendrine and 2′-norcocsuline, respectively. The alkaloids induced apoptosis in ovarian cancer cells because they activated caspases 3/7, induced cleavage of PARP, increased the subG
1
population in cell cycle analysis and increased Annexin V/propidium iodide staining. These observations suggest that isochondodendrine and 2′-norcocsuline contributing to the cytotoxic activity of
T. subcordata
may be suitable starting points for the future development of novel therapeutics to treat ovarian cancer.
Triclisia subcordata
Oliv (Menispermeaceae) is used in herbal medicine for the treatment of cancer and other diseases in Africa
.