Phytochemicals from Carissa carandas with potent cytotoxic and anti-inflammatory activities

Six natural products (1-6) were isolated from the fresh leaves of Carissa carandas including ursolic acid (1), ursolic acid-gamma-lactone (2), 27-O-Z-p-coumaroyl ursolic acid (3), 23-hydroxy ursolic acid (4), uvaol (5) and ursolic aldehyde (6). Their structure elucidation was done by modern spectroscopic techniques including H-1-NMR, C-13-NMR and comparison with reported data. All compounds were known, while 2-4 were isolated for the first time from the genus Carissa. Isolated compounds were screened for their cytotoxic via MTT assay and anti-inflammatory potential via luminol-enhanced chem-iluminescence assay. Compounds 3 and 4 showed potent activity against lung cancer cell line (NCI-H460), and 4 showed potent anti-inflammatory activity against reactive oxygen species production from human whole blood phagocytes. Compound 5 displayed good selective cytotoxicity against NCI-H460 and did not provoke cytotoxicity against normal cell line upto 250 mu M. Compounds 3-5 were identified as potential anti-cancer drug leads.

Automated summary

Six natural products were isolated from the fresh leaves of Carissa carandas, with compounds 3-5 showing potential as anti-cancer drug leads due to their potent activity against lung cancer cell lines and anti-inflammatory properties.