Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Jan;46(1):196-207.
doi: 10.1038/s41401-024-01347-z. Epub 2024 Jul 29.

Polyoxygenated cembrane-type diterpenes from the Hainan soft coral Lobophytum crassum as a promising source of anticancer agents with ErbB3 and ROR1 inhibitory potential

Affiliations

Polyoxygenated cembrane-type diterpenes from the Hainan soft coral Lobophytum crassum as a promising source of anticancer agents with ErbB3 and ROR1 inhibitory potential

Shou-Mao Shen et al. Acta Pharmacol Sin. 2025 Jan.

Abstract

A detailed chemical investigation of the Hainan soft coral Lobophytum crassum led to the identification of a class of polyoxygenated cembrane-type macrocyclic diterpenes (1-28), including three new flexible cembranoids, lobophycrasins E-G (2-4), and twenty-five known analogues. Their structures were elucidated by combining extensive spectroscopic data analysis, quantum mechanical-nuclear magnetic resonance (QM-NMR) methods, the modified Mosher's method, X-ray diffraction analysis, and comparison with data reported in the literature. Bioassays revealed that sixteen cembranoids inhibited the proliferation of H1975, MDA-MB231, A549, and H1299 cells. Among them, Compounds 10, 17, and 20 exhibited significant antiproliferative activities with IC50 values of 1.92-8.82 μM, which are very similar to that of the positive control doxorubicin. Molecular mechanistic studies showed that the antitumour activity of Compound 10 was closely related to regulation of the ROR1 and ErbB3 signalling pathways. This study may provide insight into the discovery and utilization of marine macrocyclic cembranoids as lead compounds for anticancer drugs.

Keywords: Lobophytum crassum; ErbB3; ROR1; anticancer agent; cembranoids; macrocyclic diterpenes.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

References

    1. Siegel RL, Miller KD, Wagle NS, Jemal A. Cancer statistics, 2023. CA Cancer J Clin. 2023;73:17–48. - PubMed
    1. Rodak O, Peris-Diaz MD, Olbromski M, Podhorska-Okolow M, Dziegiel P. Current landscape of non-small cell lung cancer: epidemiology, histological classification, targeted therapies, and immunotherapy. Cancers. 2021;13:4705. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Jia C, Xu Q, Zhao L, Kong F, Jia Y. Therapeutic role of EGFR - tyrosine kinase inhibitors in non-small cell lung cancer with leptomeningeal metastasis. Transl Oncol. 2024;39:101832. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lim Z-F, Ma PC. Emerging insights of tumor heterogeneity and drug resistance mechanisms in lung cancer targeted therapy. J Hematol Oncol. 2019;12:134. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Zhang S, Chen L, Cui B, Chuang H-Y, Yu J, Wang-Rodriguez J, et al. ROR1 is expressed in human breast cancer and associated with enhanced tumor-cell growth. PLoS One. 2012;7:e31127. - PMC - PubMed

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources