Daphnanes diterpenes from the latex of Hura crepitans L. and their PKCζ-dependent anti-proliferative activity on colorectal cancer cells.

Hura crepitans L. (Euphorbiaceae) is a thorn-covered tree widespread in South America, Africa and Asia which produces an irritating milky latex containing numerous secondary metabolites, notably daphnane-type diterpenes known as Protein Kinase C activators. Fractionation of a dichloromethane extract of the latex led to the isolation of five new daphnane diterpenes (1-5), along with two known analogs (6-7) including huratoxin. Huratoxin (6) and 4',5'-epoxyhuratoxin (4) were found to exhibit significant and selective cell growth inhibition against colorectal cancer cell line Caco-2 and primary colorectal cancer cells cultured as colonoids. The underlying mechanism of 4 and 6 was further investigated revealing the involvement of PKCζ in the cytostatic activity.

Daphnanes diterpenes from the latex of Hura crepitans L. And activity against human colorectal cancer cells Caco-2.

Hura crepitans (Euphorbiaceae) is a tree from South America that produces an irritant latex used as a fish poison. A bio-guided fractionation of an ethanolic extract of the latex led to the isolation and structural identification of three known daphnane-type diterpenes (1-3) including huratoxin (1), together with two new analogs (4, 5). Compound 1 was found to exhibit significant and selective cell growth inhibition against the colorectal cancer cell line Caco-2, with morphological modifications suggesting formations mimicking the intestinal crypt architecture. The underlying mechanism of 1 was further investigated, in comparison with 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA), revealing two different mechanisms.