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Biological evaluation of the diterpenes from Croton macrostachyus

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Abstract

To clarify whether the seeds of Croton macrostachyus can induce apoptosis, its methanolic extract was first subjected to a clonogenic survival assay, which measures long-term cytotoxic effects. Since it showed cytotoxicity on HCT116 human colon cancer cell lines, further separation was performed, and two single diterpene compounds were obtained. One of them was identified to be a novel compound, methyl 2-(furan-3-yl)-6a,10b-dimethyl-4-oxo-2,4,4a,5,6,6a,10a,10b-octahydro-1H-benzo[f]isochromene-7-carboxylate, based on the interpretation of the nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic and mass spectrometric data. Its treatment of HCT116 cells with 50 μg/mL triggered the cleavage of both initiator caspase-9 and effector caspase-7. Moreover, the cleavage of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase, a substrate of caspase-7, increased after 24 h of treatment. These results demonstrate that this compound exerts antitumor activity by triggering caspase-mediated apoptotic cell death in HCT116 human colon cancer cells.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Agri-Bio Industry Technology Development Program (316028-3), Korea Institute of Planning and Evaluation for Technology in Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (IPET) and the Basic Science Research Program (NRF-2016R1D1A1A09919045). SY Shin was supported by the KU Research Professor Program of Konkuk University.

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Author notes

  1. Yeonjoong Yong and Hailemichael Tesso have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Bioscience and Biotechnology, BMIC, Konkuk University, Seoul, 05029, Republic of Korea

    Yeonjoong Yong & Yoongho Lim

  2. School of Natural Sciences, Adama Science and Technology University, Adama, Ethiopia

    Hailemichael Tesso, Akalu Terfa, Aman Dekebo & Worku Dinku

  3. Department of Biological Sciences, Konkuk University, Seoul, 05029, Republic of Korea

    Young Han Lee & Soon Young Shin

Authors
  1. Yeonjoong Yong
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  2. Hailemichael Tesso
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Correspondence to Soon Young Shin or Yoongho Lim.

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Yong, Y., Tesso, H., Terfa, A. et al. Biological evaluation of the diterpenes from Croton macrostachyus . Appl Biol Chem 60, 615–621 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13765-017-0317-5

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