Pancreatic Cancer Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Pancreatic Cancer, including details on symptoms, causes, treatment, information.

Constituents of Brazilian red propolis and their preferential cytotoxic activity against human pancreatic PANC-1 cancer cell line in nutrient-deprived condition.

Awale S, Li F, Onozuka H, Esumi H, Tezuka Y, Kadota S

Institute of Natural Medicine, University of Toyama, 2630 Sugitani, Toyama 930-0194, Japan.

Human pancreatic cancer cells such as PANC-1 are known to exhibit marked tolerance to nutrition starvation that enables them to survive for prolonged period of time even under extremely nutrient-deprived conditions. Thus, elimination of this tolerance to nutrition starvation is regarded as a novel approach in anticancer drug development. In this study, the MeOH soluble extract of Brazilian red propolis was found to kill 100% PANC-1 cells preferentially in the nutrient-deprived condition at the concentration of 10 microg/mL. Further phytochemical investigation led to the isolation of 43 compounds including three new compounds, (6aS,11aS)-6a-ethoxymedicarpan (1), 2-(2',4'-dihydroxyphenyl)-3-methyl-6-methoxybenzofuran (2), and 2,6-dihydroxy-2-[(4-hydroxyphenyl)methyl]-3-benzofuranone (3). Among them, (6aR,11aR)-3,8-dihydroxy-9-methoxypterocarpan (21, DMPC) displayed the most potent 100% preferential cytotoxicity (PC(100)) at the concentration of 12.5 microM. Further study on the mode of cell death induced by DMPC against PANC-1 cells indicated that killing process was not accompanied by DNA fragmentation, rather through a nonapoptotic pathway accompanied by necrotic-type morphological changes.

Published 14 January 2008 in Bioorg Med Chem, 16(1): 181-9.
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