Phenolic glycosides and flavonoids with antioxidant and anticancer activities from Desmodium caudatum

Descaudatine A (1), an undescribed phenolic glycoside, along with a known analogue (2) and ten flavonoids (3-12), were isolated from the whole plant of Desmodium caudatum. Compounds 1 and 4 exhibited potent antioxidant activities with the IC50 of 58.59 mu M and 31.31 mu M, respectively, which were approached to that of the positive control Vitamin C (IC50 = 46.32 mu M). Meanwhile, 12 showed moderate antioxidant activity with the IC50 of 173.9 mu M. Besides, compounds 3 and 6 inhibited the proliferation of HeLa cells with IC50 values of 56.14 mu M and 69.04 mu M, respectively. Further studies indicated that 3 and 6 could dose-dependently induce PARP cleavage and might trigger caspase-3, 8, 9 activation to induce apoptosis. RXR alpha is an ideal anticancer target of nuclear receptor. The reporter gene assay of RXR alpha indicated that 3 and 6 could inhibited the 9-cis-RA induced RXR alpha transcription in a concentration-dependent manner.

Automated summary

A new phenolic glycoside, Descaudatine A, was isolated from Desmodium caudatum, showing potent antioxidant activity. Other compounds in the plant also exhibited antioxidant and anticancer activities, some of which could inhibit proliferation of cancer cells by inducing apoptosis.