Chemical Informatic Investigation of Anticancer Secondary Metabolites from Spina Gleditsiae Using HPLC and NMR-based Techniques

Spina Gleditsiae is the herbal medicine traditionally used in Chinese Medicine for the treatment of human cancers. Though significant progress has been made toward our understanding of the antitumour mechanisms of Spina Gleditsiae, its anticancer chemical information remains unclear. In this study, we used computer-based chromatographic and spectral techniques to isolate and identify nine compounds including fustin(1), (+) trans-2R, 3R-3´, 4´, 5, 7-tetrahydroxyflavanonol (2), 8-C-glucopyranosyl-3, 4´, 7-trihydroxyflavone (3), dihydrokaempferol (4), 5-methoxy-3´, 4´, 7´-trihydroxydihydroflavonol (5), 5, 3´, 4´, trimethoxy-7-hydroxydihydroflavonol (6), betulin (7), ß-sitosterol (8) and 2ß-carboxyl, 3ß-hydroxyl-norlupA (1)-20(29)-en-28-oic acid (9) from Spina Gleditsiae. Moreover, their anticancer effects were firstly confirmed on hepatoblastoma HepG2, oesophageal carcinoma EC109 and lung adenocarcinoma A549 cell lines in vitro. Our results provide a theoretical basis for the potential therapeutic use of Spina Gleditsiae in the treatment of malignancies.