Anti-inflammatory and Cytotoxic Cycloartanes from Guayule (Parthenium Argentatum)

Abstract

The need for the discovery and development of new pharmaceuticals for the treatment of cancer demands that all approaches to drug discovery should be exploited. Among the possible approaches, the one from natural products has made many unique and vital contributions to drug discovery. This mini review focuses on researches made in our laboratory on cycloartanes isolated from Parthenium argentatum, as well as some of its derivatives, in order to obtain potential anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer agents.

Composition of Guayule (Parthenium argentatum Gray) resin

“…The stated objective (identifying and quantifying all components of the same resin) is mostly achieved: less than 5% of compounds remain unqualified and quantified. Knowing the composition of guayule resin and the quantity of each molecule is of great interest as many of them have a high added value: guayulins have shown repellent and anti-feedant activities 33 and argentatins could be used in cancer treatments 6 . The aim is now to extract and fractionate this resin to valorise it.…”

Synthesis of Cycloartan‐16β‐ol from 16β 24R‐Epoxy‐Cycloartane and Their Cytotoxicity Evaluation Against Human Cancer Cell Lines

“…The results of these studies indicated that the formation of an unsaturated bond conjugated to the carbonyl group at C3 and the incorporation in ring A of nitrile, formyl, and bromine substituents increases the cytotoxicity of the molecule. [7] Cycloartane triterpenoids are known to have multiple medicinal properties, such as antiviral, [8] anti-tumor, [9] antiparasite, [10] and anti-inflammatory [11] activities. Studies have shown that different cycloartane-type triterpene have cytotoxic effects.…”

“…Modifying the A‐ring of argentatins A and B has resulted in analogs with improved cytotoxic activity against certain cancer cell lines. The results of these studies indicated that the formation of an unsaturated bond conjugated to the carbonyl group at C3 and the incorporation in ring A of nitrile, formyl, and bromine substituents increases the cytotoxicity of the molecule [7] …”

The natural product argentatin C attenuates postoperative pain via inhibition of voltage‐gated sodium and T‐type voltage‐gated calcium channels

“…Terpenoids including incanilin, guaianolides, ambrosin, coronopilin, anhydrocoronopilin and argentatins have been isolated from plants of the genus Parthenium (Romo de Vivar & Matsubara, 1986), and a number of argentatins and other cycloartane‐type triterpenes have been encountered in guayule ( Parthenium argentatum ) resin (Powell, 1998). Previous studies have shown that argentatins A and B have anti‐microbial (Parra‐Delgado, Garcia‐Pillado, et al, 2005) and anti‐inflammatory (Flores‐Rosete & Martínez‐Vázquez, 2008) properties and cytotoxic activity against several cancer cell lines (Parra‐Delgado et al, 2006; Parra‐Delgado, Garcia‐Pillado, et al, 2005; Parra‐Delgado, Ramirez‐Apan, & Martinez‐Vazquez, 2005). However, there have been no reports of anti‐nociceptive properties for any argentatins.…”