In this study, twenty-two Amaryllidaceae alkaloids were screened for their anticancer potential. All isolates were evaluated for antiproliferative activities on a panel of 17 human cell types of different tissue origin using WST-1 assay. In addition, we determined the antiproliferative effect with a real-time cell analysis xCELLigence system. Thereafter, to evaluate the barely known in vivo anticancer potential of the most potent molecule haemanthamine, a preliminary study was performed using an Ehrlich tumor-bearing mice model. The results showed that haemanthamine, lycorine and haemanthidine exerted the highest antiproliferative activity. The mean growth percent (GP) value after a single-dose 10 μM treatment was for haemanthamine 21%, for lycorine 21% and for haemanthidine 27% that of untreated control cells (100%). Furthermore, haemanthamine, lycorine and haemanthidine exhibited significant cytotoxicities against all the tested cell lines with individual IC50 values in the micromolar range. Dynamic real-time measures of impedance by xCELLigence indicated that these three compounds suppress cell proliferation after 10 h of treatment at a concentration of 10 μM or higher. Regrettably, in a follow-up in vivo antitumor activity study, haemanthamine showed no statistically significant reduction in the tumor size with no prolongation of survival time of Ehrlich tumor-bearing mice. Taken together, these results provide a new clue and guidance for exploiting Amaryllidaceae alkaloids as anticancer agents.

ADINACO Research Group Department of Pharmaceutical Botany Faculty of Pharmacy Charles University Heyrovskeho 1203 Hradec Kralove 500 05 Czech Republic

Department of Biological and Biochemical Sciences Faculty of Chemical Technology University of Pardubice Studentska 573 Pardubice 532 10 Czech Republic

Department of Medical Biochemistry Faculty of Medicine in Hradec Kralove Charles University Simkova 870 Hradec Kralove 500 03 Czech Republic

Department of Medical Biophysics Faculty of Medicine in Hradec Kralove Charles University Simkova 870 Hradec Kralove 500 03 Czech Republic

References provided by Crossref.org

Undescribed Amaryllidaceae Alkaloids from Zephyranthes citrina and Their Cytotoxicity

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