In vitro cytotoxicity of sesquiterpene lactones isolated from Centaurea pullata L. native to Algeria

Abstract

The phytochemical investigation of the aerial parts of Centaurea pullata L. from Algeria led to the isolation and identification of ten sesquiterpene lactones. The in vitro cytotoxic and antiproliferative potential of the isolated sesquiterpene lactones was tested against fives human cell lines (i.e., DLD1, SF268, MCF7, NCI-H460 and OVCAR3) using the sulforhodamine B (SRB) assay. In total ten compounds were tested, among which the elemanolide melitensin (5) proved the most active demonstrating a growth inhibitory activity below 100 μM against three cell lines NCI-H460, MCF7 and SF268, from the five tested.