Activity of elaeochytrin A from Ferula elaeochytris on leukemia cell lines

Abstract Phytochemical investigation of the roots of Ferula elaeochytris made it possible to isolate two sesquiterpene esters, 6-anthraniloyljaeschkeanadiol (elaeochytrin A) and 4β-hydroxy-6α-( p -hydroxybenzoyloxy)dauc-9-ene (elaeochytrin B), as well as eight known compounds: 6-angeloyljaeschkeanadiol, teferidin, ferutinin, 6-( p -hydroxybenzoyl)epoxyjaeschkeanadiol, 6-( p -hydroxybenzoyl)lancerotriol, 5-caffeoylquinic acid, 1,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid and sandrosaponin IX. The cytotoxic activities of all compounds were investigated on K562R (imatinib-resistant) human chronic myeloid leukaemia and DA1-3b/M2 BCR-ABL (dasatinib-resistant) mouse leukemia cell line. Elaeochytrin A was the most active compound on both cell lines (IC 50  = 12.4 and 7.8 μM, respectively). It was also tested on non-resistant human promyelocytic leukemia cells (HL60, IC 50  = 13.1 μM) and was not toxic to normal peripheral blood mononuclear cells up to 100 μM.