Highly oxygenated guaiane-type sesquiterpene lactones from Artemisia sacrorum and their antihepatoma activity.

The ethanol and EtOAc extracts of Artemisia sacrorum exhibited inhibitory effect against HepG2, Huh7, and SK-Hep-1 cell lines with inhibitory ratios of 65.5%, 28.1%, 84.6%, and 93.5%, 82.0%, 89.0% at 200 μg/mL. Twenty-three undescribed guaiane-type sesquiterpene lactones, artemisacrolides A‒W, were isolated from A. sacrorum under the guidance of antihepatoma activity. Their structures were elucidated by spectral data (HRESIMS, IR, UV, 1D and 2D NMR), ECD calculations, and a single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Artemisacrolides A‒U were guaiane-type sesquiterpene lactones possessing α-methylene-γ-lactone and containing acetoxyl groups at C-8, and artemisacrolides V and W represented the first report from the genus Artemisia with a 1,10-rearranged guaiane-type sesquiterpene lactone. Antihepatoma assay suggested that artemisacrolides A‒U demonstrated better inhibitory activity in Huh7 and SK-Hep-1 cells than those of HepG2 cells. Among them, nine compounds exhibited significant inhibitory activity against Huh7 cells with IC values of 8.2-14.3 μM, superior or equal to that of sorafenib; seven compounds demonstrated obvious activity against SK-Hep-1 cells with IC values of 13.5-19.2 μM, which were equivalent to that of sorafenib. Artemisacrolides B and E were the most active ones in three human hepatoma cell lines with IC values of 21.9, 8.2, 16.9 and 22.6, 9.0, 17.3 μM.