Cytotoxic flavonoids with isoprenoid groups from Morus mongolica

Area of Science:

• Natural Product Chemistry
• Medicinal Chemistry
• Pharmacology

Background:

• Morus mongolica is a traditional medicinal plant with diverse bioactive compounds.
• Flavonoids and benzofurans are classes of natural products known for their biological activities.
• Cytotoxicity and tumor specificity are key parameters in evaluating potential anti-cancer agents.

Purpose of the Study:

• To isolate and characterize novel compounds from Chinese Morus mongolica.
• To evaluate the cytotoxic effects of isolated compounds against human oral tumor cell lines.
• To compare the cytotoxicity and tumor specificity of different compound classes.

Main Methods:

• Isolation of compounds using chromatographic techniques.
• Structure elucidation of novel compounds via spectroscopic methods (NMR, MS).
• In vitro cytotoxicity assays against oral tumor cell lines (HSC-2, HSG) and normal fibroblasts (HGF).

Main Results:

• A new pyranoflavanone (sanggenol L) and four new 2-arylbenzofurans (mulberrofurans W-Z) were identified.
• Ten known flavonoids were also isolated from the plant extract.
• Flavanones, including sanggenol M, exhibited significant cytotoxicity against oral tumor cells, with higher potency than 2-arylbenzofurans.
• Compound 2 and sanggenon C demonstrated the most potent cytotoxicity.

Conclusions:

• Morus mongolica is a rich source of bioactive flavonoids and benzofurans.
• The isolated flavanones possess promising cytotoxic activity against oral cancer cell lines.
• Further investigation into sanggenol M and sanggenon C may lead to novel anti-cancer therapeutics.