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Structure-dependent inhibition of bladder and pancreatic cancer cell growth by 2-substituted glycyrrhetinic and ursolic acid derivatives.

Chadalapaka G, Jutooru I, McAlees A, Stefanac T, Safe S

Department of Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4466, USA.

Derivatives of oleanolic acid, ursolic acid and glycyrrhetinic acid substituted with electron-withdrawing groups at the 2-position in the A-ring which also contains a 1-en-3-one structure are potent inhibitors of cancer cell growth. In this study, we have compared the effects of several 2-substituted analogs of triterpenoid acid methyl esters derived from ursolic and glycyrrhetinic acid on proliferation of KU7 and 253JB-V bladder and Panc-1 and Panc-28 pancreatic cancer cells. The results show that the 2-cyano and 2-trifluoromethyl derivatives were the most active compounds. The glycyrrhetinic acid derivatives with the rearranged C-ring containing the 9(11)-en-12-one structure were generally more active than the corresponding 12-en-11-one isomers. However, differences in growth inhibitory IC(50) values were highly variable and dependent on the 2-substituent (CN vs CF(3)) and cancer cell context.

Published 15 April 2008 in Bioorg Med Chem Lett, 18(8): 2633-9.
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