Cytotoxicity of latex of Synadenium compactum var. rubrum S. Carter
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Date
2023-02
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Cancer has become the second leading cause of death globally. While it was once predominately
a disease affecting economically developed countries, it is now impacting developing nations
more accounting for over half of all new cases worldwide. This has significant social and
economic implications for countries like Ethiopia. One of the major drawbacks in treating cancer
is the prevalence of drug resistance, along with the unbearable side effects and high costs
associated with current treatments. Therefore, there is an urgent need to discover new, safe and
effective drugs to combat this advancing disease. Natural products have proven to be a valuable
source for the development of cancer drugs, as they make up over half of the currently used
drugs. Traditional medicine attends to almost 80% of population’s primary health needs in
Ethiopia. In this research, traditionally claimed cytotoxic latex and its fractions from Synadenium
compactum var. rubrum S. Carter, a member of the Euphorbiaceae family, were evaluated for
their cytotoxic activity. The latex and its ethyl acetate fraction showed potent cytotoxicity in an
MTT assay against the ovarian cancer cell line A2780, with GI50 values as low as 1.98 ± 0.45
μl/ml and 0.911± 0.296 μl/ml, respectively. Additionally, the sub-fractions of the ethyl acetate
fraction showed potent activity against histiocytic human lymphoma cell line U-937 in a
Fluorometric microculture cytotoxicity assay (FMCA), with an SI value as low as 8% at a dose
of 100 μl/ml. Through bioassay guided fractionation and preparative HPLC, a previously
reported lathyrane diterpenoid known as 2-methylbutanoate tetraacetate synadenol was isolated
from the most active ethyl acetate sub fraction. The structural elucidation of the compound was
achieved using 1H NMR, 13C NMR, HMQC, HMBC and HRESIMS spectroscopic techniques.
The finding of this study strongly supports the antitumor traditional claim of the latex of S.
compactum.
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Keywords
Synadenium compactum, Cytotoxicity, lathyrane diterpenoid, 2- methylbutanoate tetraacetate synadenol