Synthesis and antitumor activity evaluation of ursolic acid derivatives

Area of Science:

• Medicinal Chemistry
• Organic Synthesis
• Cancer Biology

Background:

• Uronic acids are carbohydrate derivatives with potential biological activities.
• Developing novel anticancer agents is a critical area of research.
• The parent compound served as a benchmark for evaluating new derivatives.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and synthesize novel uronic acid derivatives.
• To evaluate the in vitro cytotoxicities of these derivatives against human cancer cell lines.
• To investigate the potential interactions of active compounds with NF-κB.

Main Methods:

• Synthesis of eighteen uronic acid derivatives.
• Cytotoxicity evaluation using MTT assay on BEL7402 and SGC7901 cell lines.
• Molecular docking simulations to study interactions with NF-κB.

Main Results:

• All synthesized compounds exhibited higher inhibitory rates than the parent compound.
• Compounds II4, II6, III4, and III6 showed IC50 values comparable or superior to the positive control.
• Docking simulations suggested interactions between these active compounds and NF-κB.

Conclusions:

• The novel uronic acid derivatives possess significant in vitro anticancer activity.
• Compounds II4, II6, III4, and III6 are promising candidates for further anticancer drug development.
• Potential interactions with NF-κB warrant further investigation for mechanism of action studies.