Polyhydroxy cucurbitane triterpenes from Hemsleya penxianensis tubers

Ten new cucurbitane triterpenoids, hemsleyacins A–J (1–10), together with three known cucurbitane triterpenoids, dihydrocucurbitacin F (11), scandenogenin D (12), and jinfushanencin F (13), were separated from ethanolic tuber extracts of Hemsleya penxianensis. The absolute configurations of the new compounds were established based on NMR, HRESIMS, and CD spectra. Compounds 7 and 10–12 were evaluated in terms of their antifeedant activity against Plutella xylostella larvae. The result showed that compound 10 exhibited potent antifeedant activity against P. xylostella larvae after 48 h of treatment. Furthermore, the MTT test showed that compound 11 exhibited potent inhibition toward the UMUC-3 and T24 cell lines with IC(50) values of 29.12 and 35.62 μM, respectively, compared to the positive control cisplatin IC(50) values of 8.27 and 13.72 μM. Western blot analysis revealed that compound 11 treatments substantially inhibited the phosphorylation of IκBα.