Dual-stage triterpenoids from an African medicinal plant targeting the malaria parasite

Sixteen triterpenoids (1-16), previously isolated from the aerial parts of the African medicinal plant Momordica balsamina or obtained by derivatization, were evaluated for their activity against liver stages of Plasmodium berghei, measuring the luminescence intensity in Huh-7 cells infected with a firefly luciferase-expressing P. berghei line, PbGFP-Luccon. Toxicity of compounds (1-16) was assessed on the same cell line through the fluorescence measurement of cell confluency. The highest activity was displayed by a derivative bearing two acetyl residues, karavoate B (7), which led to a dose-dependent decrease in the P. berghei infection rate, exhibiting a very significant activity at the lowest concentration employed (1 μM) and no toxicity towards the Huh-7 cells. It is noteworthy that, in previous studies, this compound was found to be a strong inhibitor of blood-stages of Plasmodium falciparum, thus displaying a dual-stage antimalarial activity.