College of Veterinary Medicine, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, 410128, China.
School of Pharmacy, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, China.
Phytochemistry. 2022 May;197:113123. doi: 10.1016/j.phytochem.2022.113123. Epub 2022 Feb 16.
Cucurbitacin C-type cucurbitacins that are only identified in Cucumis sativus (cucumber) are, in part, responsible for the health benefits and bitter flavor. Nevertheless, detailed information about those functional ingredients in cucumber is scarce. In this study, ten cucurbitacin C analogues including seven undescribed ones have been isolated from the bitter leaves of cucumber, in which six compounds showed growth inhibition capabilities against tumor cell lines HepG2, A549, DU145 and HCT116. Intriguingly, cucurbitacin C6 and C7 exhibited a significant inhibition effect compared to the positive control taxol (IC = 1.86 ± 0.17 μM) on HepG2 cell line with IC values of 10.06 ± 0.34 μM and 4.16 ± 0.42 μM, respectively. The mechanism of cucurbitacin-induced apoptosis is likely down-regulating the expression of caspase-related proteins. This work enlarges the knowledge of the cucurbitacins in cucumber and highlights the importance of cucumber as a source of specialized metabolites in the food and medicinal industries.
仅在黄瓜（Cucumis sativus）中发现的葫芦素 C 型葫芦素部分负责其健康益处和苦味。然而，关于黄瓜中这些功能性成分的详细信息却很少。在这项研究中，从黄瓜的苦味叶中分离出了十种葫芦素 C 类似物，其中六种化合物对肿瘤细胞系 HepG2、A549、DU145 和 HCT116 表现出生长抑制能力。有趣的是，葫芦素 C6 和 C7 对 HepG2 细胞系的抑制作用比阳性对照紫杉醇（IC=1.86±0.17μM）更为显著，其 IC 值分别为 10.06±0.34μM 和 4.16±0.42μM。葫芦素诱导细胞凋亡的机制可能是下调半胱氨酸天冬氨酸蛋白酶相关蛋白的表达。这项工作扩大了人们对黄瓜中葫芦素的认识，并强调了黄瓜作为食品和医药行业中特殊代谢物来源的重要性。
