Coumarins are plant-derived natural products with a broad range of known pharmacological activities including anticancer effects. However, the molecular mechanisms by which this class of promising compounds exerts their anticancer effects remain largely unknown. We report here that a furanocoumarin named apaensin could effectively induce apoptosis of cancer cells through its activation of Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK). Apoptosis induction by apaensin in cancer cells was suppressed by chemical inhibitors of JNK and p38 MAPK. Inhibition of the expression of orphan nuclear receptor Nur77 by small interfering RNA (siRNA) approach also abrogated the death effect of apaensin. Molecular analysis demonstrated that JNK activation was required for the nuclear export of Nur77, a known apoptotic event in cancer cells. Although p38 MAPK activation was not involved in Nur77 nuclear export, it was essential for Nur77 mitochondrial targeting through induction of Nur77 interaction with Bcl-2, which is also known to convert Bcl-2 from an antiapoptotic to a proapoptotic molecule. Together, our results identify a new natural product that targets orphan nuclear receptor Nur77 through its unique activation of JNK and p38 MAPK and provide insight into the complex regulation of the Nur77-Bcl-2 apoptotic pathway.

Two new steroidal saponins (1 and 2) were isolated from the dried bulbs of Allium macrostemon Bunge. Their structures were elucidated by the spectral data as 26-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-5α-furost-25 (27)-ene-3β, 12β, 22, 26-tetraol-3-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl (1→2) [β-D-glucopyranosyl (1→3)]-β-D-glucopyranosyl (1→4)-β-D-galactopyranoside (1) and 26-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-5β-furost-20 (22)-25 (27)-dien-3β, 12β, 26-triol-3-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl (1→2)-β-D-galactopyranoside (2), respectively. Their cytotoxic activities on several cancer cell lines (MCF-7, NCI-H460, SF-268 and HepG2) were tested. 1 showed special cytotoxity on SF-268, while 2 showed cytotoxity on NCI-H460 and SF-268 cell lines, respectively.

Five new ergostanes, penicisteroids D−H (1−5), were isolated from the liquid culture of the deep-sea-derived fungus Penicillium granulatum MCCC 3A00475, along with 27 known compounds. The structures of the new steroids were established mainly on the basis of extensive analysis of 1D and 2D NMR as well as HRESIMS data. Moreover, the absolute configurations of 1 were confirmed unambiguously by the single-crystal X-ray crystallography. Compounds 2 and 4–7 showed moderate antiproliferative effects selectively against 12 different cancer cell lines with IC₅₀ values of around 5 μM. Compounds 2 and 6, potent RXRα binders with Kd values of 13.8 and 12.9 μM, respectively, could induce apoptosis by a Retinoid X Receptor (RXR)-α-dependent mechanism by regulating RXRα transcriptional expression and promoting the poly-ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) cleavage. Moreover, they could inhibit proliferation by cell cycle arrest at the G0/G1 phase.

12-Deacetyl-12-epi-scalaradial, a scalarane sesterterpenoid from a marine sponge Hippospongia sp, has been reported to possess cytotoxic activity on HepG2, MCF-7, and HCT-116 cells. However, there is no research to indicate that 12-deacetyl-12-epi-scalaradial exhibited anticancer effect on cervical cancer HeLa cells. The aim of this study was to investigate the anticancer activity of 12-deacetyl-12-epi-scalaradial against HeLa cells and to explore the mechanism. The results from a methylthiazolyldiphenyl-tetrazolium (MTT) assay suggested that 12-deacetyl-12-epi-scalaradial suppressed the proliferation of HeLa cells and flow cytometry analysis showed 12-deacetyl-12-epi-scalaradial could induce the apoptosis of HeLa cells in dose- and time-dependent manner. Western blotting analysis demonstrated that 12-deacetyl-12-epi-scalaradial triggered apoptosis via mediating the extrinsic pathway and was found to suppress MAPK/ERK pathway which was associate with cancer cell death. Nur77, a critical number of orphan nuclear receptors, plays diverse roles in tumor development as a transcription factor and has been considered as a promising anticancer drug target. The dual-luciferase reporter assays suggested that 12-deacetyl-12-epi-scalaradial could selectively enhance the trans-activation activity of Nur77. Furthermore, Western blotting analysis and fluorescence quenching showed that 12-deacetyl-12-epi-scalaradial could induce the phosphorylation of Nur77 and interact with the ligand-binding domain (LBD) of Nur77. Our research confirmed 12-deacetyl-12-epi-scalaradial as a potential agent for cervical cancer therapy and provided a view that 12-deacetyl-12-epi-scalaradial may be a modulator of Nur77.

Three new compounds were isolated from the dried bulbs of Allium macrostemon Bunge. Their structures were elucidated from their spectral data as (25R)-26-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-5α-furostane-3β,12β,22,26-tetraol-3-O-β-D-glucopyranos-yl (1→2) [β-D-glucopyranosyl (1→3)]-β-D-glucopyranosyl (1→4)-β-D-galactopyranoside (1), (25R)-26-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-5α-furostane-3β,12α,22,26-tetraol-3-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl (1→2) [β-D-glucopyranosyl (1→3)]-β-D-glucopyranosyl (1→4)-β-D-galacto- pyranoside (2) and (25R)-26-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-5β-furostane-3β,12α,22,26-tetraol-3-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl (1→2)-β-D-galactopyranoside (3), respectively. The inhibition effect of all compounds on CD40 ligand (CD40L) expression on the membrane of activated platelets stimulated by ADP was tested. Compounds 1 and 2 exhibited significant inhibitory activities in a dose dependent manner (P < 0.05), suggesting their potential application as CD40L inhibitors.

A novel furocoumarin derivative named oxyalloimperatorin (1), together with seventeen furocoumarins 2–18 were isolated from the radix of Angelica dahurica. The chemical structure of new metabolite was characterized by analysis of IR, NMR, and HR-ESI-MS spectroscopic data. Among the isolated compounds, 13, 16, and 18 (each at 20 μM) could significantly promote the gene transcriptional function of nuclear receptor RXRα. While 7–9, 13, 14, and the new structure 1 (each at 20 μM) showed significant reduction in RXRα gene transcriptional activities induced by 9-cis-retinoid acid. The findings indicated that these furocoumarin skeleton derivatives might hold beneficial effects on many intractable diseases, such as cancer and metabolic diseases, due to their potential activities on regulating the transcriptional activation function of RXRα.