Screening of promising chemotherapeutic candidates from plants against human adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (VIII): six new withanolides from Physalis philadelphica

Adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATL) is a malignancy of mature peripheral T-lymphocytes caused by human T-cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I). There are an estimated 5–20 million HTLV-1-infected individuals worldwide. Conventional chemotherapeutic regimens used against other malignant lymphomas have been administered to patients with ATL, but the therapeutic outcomes of acute and lymphoma-type ATL remain extremely poor. In the course of our screening program for novel chemotherapeutic candidate compounds from plants against two human T-cell leukemia virus I-infected T-cell lines (MT-1 and MT-2), we screened 16 extracts obtained from different parts of 7 Solanaceae plants. We identified that the extracts of Physalis pruinosa and P. philadelphica showed potent anti-proliferative activity in MT-1 and MT-2 cells. In our previous study, we have isolated withanolides from extract of aerial parts of P. pruinosa and examined their structure–activity relationships. In addition, we are also investigating further structure–activity relationships about other withanolides from Solanaceae plants ( Withania somnifera, Withania coagulans, Physalis angulate, Nicandra physalodes, Petunia hybrida, and Solanum cilistum ). In this study, we attempted to isolate their active compounds against MT-1 and MT-2 from extracts of P. philadelphica . We identified 13 withanolides, including six newly isolated compounds [24 R , 25 S -4β, 16β, 20 R -trihydroxy-1-oxowitha-2-en-5β, 6 β -epoxy-22,26-olide ( 1 ), 4β, 7β,20 R -trihydroxy-1-oxowitha-2-en-5β, 6β -epoxy-22,26-olide ( 2 ), 17β,20 S -dihydroxywithanone ( 3 ), 2,3-dihydro-3β-methoxy-23β-hydroxywithaphysacarpin ( 4 ), 3- O -(4-rhamnosyl)glucosyl-physalolactone B ( 5 ), and 17 R , 20 R , 22 S , 23 S , 24 R , 25 R -4β, 5α, 6β, 20β, 22α -tetrahydroxy-16β, 23-diepoxy-1-oxowitha-2-en-26, 23-olide ( 6 )], from the extract and examined the structure–activity relationships. The 50% effective concentration of withaphysacarpin (compound 7 ) [MT-1: 0.10 µM and MT-2: 0.04 µM] was comparable to that of etoposide [MT-1: 0.08 µM and MT-2: 0.07 µM]. Therefore, withanolides might be promising candidates for the treatment of ATL.