Cytotoxic Quinones from the Roots of Aloe dawei

• Main Authors: Negera Abdissa, Martha Induli, Paul Fitzpatrick, John Patrick Alao, Per Sunnerhagen, Göran Landberg, Abiy Yenesew, Máté Erdélyi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2014-03-01
• Series: Molecules
• Subjects: Aloe dawei; Asphodelaceae; naphthoquinone; anthraquinone; 6-hydroxy-3,5-dimethoxy-2-methyl-1,4-naphthoquinone; cytotoxicity; MCF-7
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/19/3/3264
• ISSN: 1420-3049

Seven naphthoquinones and nine anthraquinones were isolated from the roots of Aloe dawei by chromatographic separation. The purified metabolites were identified by NMR and MS analyses. Out of the sixteen quinones, 6-hydroxy-3,5-dimethoxy-2-methyl-1,4-naphthoquinone is a new compound. Two of the isolates, 5,8-dihydroxy-3-methoxy-2-methylnaphthalene-1,4-dione and 1-hydroxy-8-methoxy-3-methylanthraquinone showed high cytotoxic activity (IC50 1.15 and 4.85 µM) on MCF-7 breast cancer cells, whereas the others showed moderate to low cytotoxic activity against MDA-MB-231 (ER Negative) and MCF-7 (ER Positive) cancer cells.