Cytotoxic holostane-type triterpene glycosides from the sea cucumber Pentacta quadrangularis

Two new holostane-type triterpene glycosides, named pentactasides I (1) and II (2), and a new natural product, pentactaside III (3), together with two known glycosides, philinopsides A (4) and B (5), were isolated from the sea cucumber Pentacta quadrangularis. Their structures were elucidated by extensive spectroscopic analysis and chemical evidences. Compounds 1 and 2 possess the same trisaccharide moiety which is a rare structural feature among naturally occurring sea cucumber glycosides and has been infrequently reported, while 3 is a sulfated diglycoside. All the glycosides showed significant in vitro cytotoxicities against six tumor cell lines (P-388, A-549, MCF-7, MKN-28, HCT-116, and U87MG) with IC(50) in the range of 0.60-3.95 µM.