Abstract:
Pterocarpus anglonesis DC is an indigenous medicinal plant belonging to the Pterocarpus
genus of the Fabaceae family. It is used to treat stomach problems, headaches, mouth ulcers, malaria,
blackwater fever, gonorrhea, ringworm, diarrhea, heavy menstruation, and breast milk stimulation.
Column chromatography of the stem bark extracts resulted in the isolation of eight compounds,
which included friedelan-3-one (1), 3α-hydroxyfriedel-2-one (2), 3-hydroxyfriedel-3-en-2-one (3),
lup-20(29)-en-3-ol (4), Stigmasta-5-22-dien-3-ol (5), 4-O-methylangolensis (6), (3β)-3-acetoxyolean-12-
en-28-oic acid (7), and tetradecyl (E)-ferulate (8). The structures were established based on NMR, IR,
and MS spectroscopic analyses. Triple-negative breast cancer (HCC70), hormone receptor-positive
breast cancer (MCF-7), and non-cancerous mammary epithelial cell lines (MCF-12A) were used to
test the compounds’ cytotoxicity. Overall, the compounds showed either no toxicity or very low
toxicity to all three cell lines tested, except for the moderate toxicity displayed by lupeol (4) towards
the non-cancerous MCF-12A cells, with an IC50 value of 36.60 µM. Compound (3β)-3-acetoxyolean12-en-28-oic acid (7) was more toxic towards hormone-responsive (MCF-7) breast cancer cells than
either triple-negative breast cancer (HCC70) or non-cancerous breast epithelial (MCF-12A) cells (IC50
values of 83.06 vs. 146.80 and 143.00 µM, respectively).
