Triterpenes from the fruit of <i>Camptotheca acuminata</i> suppress human hepatocellular carcinoma cell proliferation through apoptosis induction

<p>The fruit of <i>Camptotheca acuminata</i>, a kind of mainly medicinal plant, possesses good antitumor properties. In order to explore the bioactive compounds for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma, the study focused on the isolation of cytotoxic compounds from the fruit of <i>Camptotheca acuminata</i>, which led to the discovery of fourteen compounds, including one new triterpene, 3<i>β</i>,20-dihydroxy-30<i>α</i>-methyl,17(29)-<i>β</i>-epoxy-28-norlupane (<b>1</b>), together with thirteen known compounds (<b>2</b>–<b>14</b>). The structures of isolated compounds were demonstrated by spectroscopic methods including 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy. Moreover, all triterpenes were evaluated for antiproliferative activities against two human hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines, HepG2 and Hep3B. Compound <b>3</b> showed the strongest cytotoxic activity against the HepG2 with IC₅₀ value at 29.6 μM. Further study demonstrated that compound <b>3</b> exhibited cytotoxic activity through the induction of apoptosis.