Nineteen terpenoids, including macrocyclic diterpenes, diterpenic lactones and other polycyclic diterpenes, steroids and a triterpene isolated from the methanolic extracts of Euphorbia species, were evaluated for their potential antineoplastic activity in various human cancer cell lines that were derived from three tumor entities: gastric (EPG85-257), pancreatic (EPP85-181) and colon (HT-29) carcinomas. Furthermore, different multidrug-resistant variants of these cancer cell lines with over-expression of MDR1/P-gp or no MDR1/P-gp expression were also investigated. In parental drug-sensitive cell lines, the tested compounds showed a moderate/weak antiproliferative effect or were inactive. Most of them were found more effective in drug-resistant cells than in the parental, drug-sensitive ones, and some of them showed high antineoplastic efficacy in classical or atypical drug-resistant cells. The most active compounds were the lathyrane diterpenes latilagascenes C and D, and the diterpenic lactones 3beta-acetoxy-helioscopinolide B and helioscopinolide E which exhibited high antineoplastic activities against the drug-resistant subline EPG85-257RDB derived from gastric carcinoma. In addition, the macrocyclic lathyrane diterpene jolkinol B was found to be highly effective in the multidrug-resistant variant HT-29RNOV.
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