Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of fluorescent derivatives of ursolic acid in living cells

Wenyi Mei, Lijuan Xie, Xiaodong Zhang, Cunjian Shi, Fengzhi Wang, Qiqi Fu, Zhenjiang Zhao, Honglin Li, Yufang Xu, Zhuo Chen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Ursolic acid (UA) is a naturally occurring ursane triterpenoid, which exhibits a wide range of unique biological activities. To clarify its mechanism of action (MOA), a series of fluorescent derivatives of UA (5a–c) were designed and synthesized by conjugation with 7-nitrobenzo-2-oxa-1,3-diazole (NBD) fluorophore. Among them, 5c exhibited similar anti-proliferative activity with UA against HCT116 cells (half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) = 9.21 ± 0.50 µmol/L). Cell imaging experiment indicated that 5c was rapidly taken up in HCT116 cells in a dose and time-dependent manner. Then, 5c was found to localize in endoplasmic reticulum (ER), lysosomes, and mitochondria, but not in nucleus of HCT116 cells by confocal microscopy studies. Preliminary MOA proved that UA induced autophagy with a unique intracellular distribution mechanism involving ER and lysosome. In all, our work provides new clues for revealing the molecular mechanism of UA as an antitumor agent.

Original languageEnglish
Article number108825
JournalChinese Chemical Letters
Volume35
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2024

Keywords

  • Apoptosis
  • Autophagy
  • Fluorescent derivatives
  • Pentacyclic triterpenoid
  • Ursolic acid

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