Oleiferasaponin C6 from the seeds of Camellia oleifera Abel.: a novel compound inhibits proliferation through inducing cell-cycle arrest and apoptosis on human cancer cell lines in vitro

Abstract

A new oleanane-type saponin oleiferasaponin C₆ (OSC₆) was isolated and identified from Camellia oleifera seeds through NMR, HR-ESI-MS, and GC-MS spectroscopic methods. This new oleanane-type saponin exhibits potent cytotoxic activities on five human cancer cell lines (BEL-7402, BGC-823, MCF-7, HL-60 and KB), especially in HL-60 and BEL-7402 cell lines. The action mechanism of the anti-cancer activity of OSC₆ was further investigated and it showed significant induction of cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in HL-60 and BEL-7402 cell lines by down-regulating CDK4, cyclin D1 and Bcl-2; up-regulating p21, caspase-3/9, p-p53 and Bax protein expression in vitro. These results suggested that the newly isolated saponin OSC₆ is a potential therapeutic agent for the treatment of human cancer.