Digalloyl Glycoside: A Potential Inhibitor of Trypanosomal PFK from Euphorbia abyssinica J.F. Gmel

Human African trypanosomiasis is an endemic infectious disease caused by Trypanosoma brucei via the bite of tsetse-fly. Most of the drugs used for the treatment, e.g., Suramin, have shown several problems, including the high level of toxicity. Accordingly, the discovery of anti-trypanosomal drugs from natural sources has become an urgent requirement. In our previous study on the anti-trypanosomal potential of Euphorbia species, Euphorbia abyssinica displayed significant anti-trypanosomal activity. Therefore, a phytochemical investigation of the methanolic extract of E. abyssinica was carried out. Twelve compounds, including two triterpenes (1, 2); one sterol-glucoside (4); three ellagic acid derivatives (3, 9, 11); three gallic acid derivatives (5, 6, 10); and three flavonoids (7, 8, 12), were isolated. The structures of isolated compounds were determined through different spectroscopic techniques. Compound (10) was obtained for the first time from genus Euphorbia while all other compounds except compound (4), were firstly reported in E. abyssinica. Consequently, an in silico study was used to estimate the anti-trypanosomal activity of the isolated compounds. Several compounds displayed interesting activity where 1,6-di-O-galloyl-d-glucose (10) appeared as the most potent inhibitor of trypanosomal phosphofructokinase (PFK). Moreover, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and ADMET calculations were performed for 1,6-di-O-galloyl-d-glucose. In conclusion, 1,6-di-O-galloyl-d-glucose revealed high binding free energy as well as desirable molecular dynamics and pharmacokinetic properties; therefore, it could be suggested for further in vitro and in vivo studies for trypanosomiasis.

Cytotoxic Activity and Metabolic Profiling of Fifteen Euphorbia Species

Euphorbia is a large genus of flowering plants with a great diversity in metabolic pattern. Testing the cytotoxic potential of fifteen Euphorbia species revealed highest activity of E. officinarum L. against human colon adenocarcinoma (CACO2) cell line (IC₅₀ 7.2 µM) and of E. lactea Haw. against human hepatoma (HepG2) and human breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7) cell lines (IC₅₀ 5.2 and 5.1 µM, respectively). Additionally, metabolic profiling of the fifteen tested species, using LC-HRMS, for dereplication purposes, led to the annotation of 44 natural compounds. Among the annotated compounds, diterpenoids represent the major class. Dereplication approach and multivariate data analysis are adopted in order to annotate the compounds responsible for the detected cytotoxic activity. Results of Principle component analysis (PCA) come in a great accordance with results of biological testing, which emphasized the cytotoxic properties of E. lactea Haw. A similarity correlation network showed that the two compounds with the molecular formula C₁₆H₁₈O₈ and C₂₀H₃₀O₁₀, are responsible for cytotoxic activity against MCF-7 and HepG2 cell lines. Similarly, the compound with molecular formula C₁₈H₃₅NO correlates with cytotoxic activity against CACO2.