Bioguided Isolation and Antiproliferative Activity of Constituents from Smilax korthalsii A.D.C. Leaves

Ethyl acetate extract of Smilax korthalsii A.D.C. leaves exhibited antiproliferative activity on leukaemia carcinoma K562, hepatic liver cancer cells WRL and colorectal carcinoma with IC₅₀ of 125.20, 46.10 and 160.00 μM respectively. Isolation of the bioactive ethyl acetate extract of Smilax korthalsii A.D.C. leaves gave eight compounds; 3β‐hydroxyspirost‐5‐ene (diosgenin), 1 , β‐sitosterol, 2 , lup‐5,11,20‐trien‐23‐ol, 3 , uneicos‐9‐enoic acid, 4 , ethylheptadecan‐17‐oic‐9‐enoate, 5 , cis‐octadec‐9‐enoic acid, 6 , hexadec9‐enoic acid, 7 and 11‐methyltridec‐12‐en‐1‐ol, 8 . The isolated compounds were tested against four human cancer cell lines: leukaemia carcinoma, K‐562; hepatic liver cancer cells, WRL; colorectal carcinoma, COLO; and breast carcinoma, MCF‐7 using the MTT assay. Diosgenin 1 exhibited significant antiproliferative activity against all four cell lines (IC₅₀; K562=6.25, WRL=14.34, COLO=38.00, MCF‐7=12.40 μM), while compounds 3, 6 and 7 inhibited the growth of K‐562 at 20, 50 and 100 μM concentrations with IC₅₀ of 90.20, 75.92 and 50.72 μM respectively. Other isolated compounds also showed cytotoxic properties against K‐562, WRL and COLO, but showed low inhibition of MCF‐7.