Dual biological functions of the apoptotic activity and anti-inflammatory effect by alcyonolide congeners from the Okinawan soft coral, Cespitularia sp.

In our current study, alcyonolide and its congeners isolated from the Okinawan soft coral, Cespitularia sp., have shown an antitumor activity in HCT116 colon cancer cells. This study investigated the biological activities of these compounds (1-12) for the apoptotic activity in the HCT116 cells and the anti-inflammatory effect in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW264.7 macrophages. As a result, the apoptotic cells with a nuclear condensation were detected by treatment with these compounds. The apoptotic cells dependent on the caspase 3/7 activation was also induced in the low concentration range of 2.5-10 μM. While a similar concentration of the compounds inhibited the NO production in the LPS-stimulated inflammatory RAW264.7 cells, the pro-inflammatory gene expressions of the iNOS and COX-2 mRNA were also suppressed. The structurally unique alcyonolides (5, 12) having the dual biological activity of apoptotic activity and anti-inflammatory effect could be a potential development as pharmaceutical agents.