Royleanine A, an Antitumor Dihydro-β-agarofuran Sesquiterpene Pyridine Alkaloid from Maytenus royleanus

Genus Maytenus (Celastraceae) has proved to be a good source of new bioactive sesquiterpene pyridine alkaloids. Maytenus royleanus is a medicinal plant used in folk medicine for different ailments in a variety of ways around the world. Investigation of the roots of M. royleanus resulted in the isolation of an undescribed antitumor sesquiterpene pyridine alkaloid: Royleanine A (1). Its structure was established by analysis of spectroscopic data and comparison with reported data. Royleanine A (1) was evaluated for its antitumor potential against several cancer cell lines and was found to be significantly active against OVC-5 cells (ovarian cancer cell line) with half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) 28.9 µg mL-1, cervical (Hela) IC50 0.064 µg mL-1 and prostate (PC 3) cancer lines with 0.034 µg mL-1.

美登木属（Genus Maytenus，卫矛科Celastraceae）已被证实为新型生物活性倍半萜吡啶生物碱的优质来源。罗伊美登木（Maytenus royleanus）是一种药用植物，在全球多地被以多种方式应用于民间医药，用于治疗多种病症。对罗伊美登木的根部开展研究后，成功分离得到一种未被报道过的抗肿瘤倍半萜吡啶生物碱：罗伊莱宁A（1）（Royleanine A (1)）。其结构通过光谱数据分析并与已报道的数据对比得以确证。随后对罗伊莱宁A（1）针对多种癌细胞系的抗肿瘤潜力进行了评估，结果显示其对OVC-5细胞系（卵巢癌细胞系）具有显著活性，半最大效应浓度（half maximal inhibitory concentration, IC50）为28.9 µg·mL⁻¹；对宫颈（Hela）癌细胞系的IC50为0.064 µg·mL⁻¹，对前列腺（PC3）癌细胞系的IC50为0.034 µg·mL⁻¹。