Biological Activities of 13, 28-epoxyoleanane Triterpene Saponins from Two Peruvian Myrsinaceae

Two known 13,28-epoxy-oleanane triterpene saponins (1) and (2), were isolated from the 95% ethanolic extract of the roots of Myrsine coriaceae and Myrsine andina. Their structures were deduced by combined spectral analysis and chemical evidences based on data reported in the literature. Compounds 1 and 2 were evaluated in vitro against different cellular models such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Leishmania amazonensis axenic amastigotes, six human cancer cell lines (Hs683, T98G, U251, HT29, MCF7, SKMEL28) and two murine cell lines (CT26 and B16F10). Compound 1 was found to exhibit antileishmanial activity (IC = 16 μg/mL) 50 whereas compound 2 was inactive (IC > 50 μg/mL). Furthermore, compound 1 exhibited 50 stronger inhibition activity on human cancer cells (IC = 15 μg/mL) and on murine cell lines 50 (IC = 10 μg/mL) than compound 2 (IC > 82 and 42 μg/mL, respectively). As the only 50 50 difference between 1 and 2 is due to a substitution of an aldehyde group by a hydroxymethyl moiety, these results showed the crucial role of the aldehyde function at C-30 for the cytotoxicity. In contrast, none of the tested compounds revealed activity against M. tuberculosis.