title: Cytotoxic activity of seco-entkaurenes from Croton caracasana on human cancer cell lines.
abstract: In the course of searching for bioactive compounds from Croton species from Venezuela, two seco-entkaurenes isolated from flowers of Croton caracasana were evaluated in vitro for their effect on cell viability by the standard MTT assay in nine human cancer cell lines of different origins and one primary culture. Both compounds induced cytotoxicity in the range of 2 to 25 microM for caracasine and 0.8 to 12 microM for caracasine acid. However, for the normal fibroblasts and the cell lines, HeLa, MCF-7, PC-3, LoVo, X-17, Jurkat E6.1 and Jurkat JCaM1.6, the IC50 values of caracasine acid were lower than their counterparts. Interestingly, no differences in IC50 were recorded for the leukemic cell lines U937 and K562. It can be concluded that the acid moiety in the structure enhances the cytotoxic effect of caracasine by a pathway which seems not to be activated in the leukemic cell lines tested.
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela. alirica.suarez@ciens.ucv.ve
authors.forename: Alírica I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Suárez
authors.forename: Katiuska
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chavez
authors.forename: Elsa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mateu
authors.forename: Reinaldo S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Compagnone
authors.forename: Arturo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Muñoz
authors.forename: Felipe
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sojo
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Arvelo
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mijares
authors.forename: Juan B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: De Sanctis
mesh_terms: D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D004396:Coloring Agents; D029802:Croton / Q000737:chemistry*; D004224:Diterpenes / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004354:Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor; D035264:Flowers / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D013778:Tetrazolium Salts; D013844:Thiazoles
chemical_list: D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic; D004396:Coloring Agents; D004224:Diterpenes; D013778:Tetrazolium Salts; D013844:Thiazoles; C022616:thiazolyl blue