Antiproliferative Compounds from Cleistanthus boivinianus from the Madagascar Dry Forest1

[Image: see text] The two new lignans 3α-O-(β-d-glucopyranosyl)desoxypodophyllotoxin (1) and 4-O-(β-d-glucopyranosyl)dehydropodophyllotoxin (2) were isolated from Cleistanthus boivinianus, together with the known lignans deoxypicropodophyllotoxin (3), (±)-β-apopicropodophyllin (4), (−)-desoxypodophyllotoxin (5), (−)-yatein (6), and β-peltatin-5-O-β-d-glucopyranoside (7). The structures of all compounds were characterized by spectroscopic techniques. Compounds 1, 4, and 5 showed potent antiproliferative activities against the A2780 ovarian cancer cell line, with IC(50) values of 33.0 ± 3.6, 63.1 ± 6.7, and 230 ± 1 nM, respectively. Compounds 2 and 7 showed only modest A2780 activities, with IC(50) values of 2.1 ± 0.3 and 4.9 ± 0.1 μM, respectively, while compounds 3 and 6 had IC(50) values of >10 μM. Compound 1 also had potent antiproliferative activity against the HCT-116 human colon carcinoma cell line, with an IC(50) value of 20.5 nM, and compound 4 exhibited modest antiproliferative activity against the A2058 human caucasian metastatic melanoma and MES-SA human uterine sarcoma cell lines, with IC(50) values of 4.6 and 4.0 μM, respectively.