Antiviral escin derivatives from the seeds of Aesculus turbinata Blume (Japanese horse chestnut)

• Published in: Bioorganic & medicinal chemistry letters 2017-07, Vol.27 (13), p.3019-3025
• Main Authors: Kim, Ji Won, Ha, Thi-Kim-Quy, Cho, Hyomoon, Kim, Eunhee, Shim, Sang Hee, Yang, Jun-Li, Oh, Won Keun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aesculus - chemistry; Aesculus turbinata; Animals; Antiviral Agents - chemistry; Antiviral Agents - isolation & purification; Antiviral Agents - pharmacology; Cell Survival - drug effects; Chlorocebus aethiops; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Escin - chemistry; Escin - isolation & purification; Escin - pharmacology; Escins; Horse chestnut; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Molecular Structure; Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV); Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus - drug effects; Seeds - chemistry; Structure-Activity Relationship; Vero Cells
• ISSN: 0960-894X; 1464-3405
• DOI: 10.1016/j.bmcl.2017.05.022

[Display omitted] Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) causes severe diarrhea and high fatality of piglets, influencing the swine industry. Japanese horse chestnut (seed of Aesculus turbinata) contains many saponin mixtures, called escins, and has been used for a long time as a traditional medicinal plant. Structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies on escins have revealed that acylations at C-21 and C-22 with angeloyl or tigloyl groups were important for their cytotoxic effects. However, the strong cytotoxicity of escins makes them hard to utilize for other diseases and to develop as nutraceuticals. In this research, we investigated whether escin derivatives 1–7 (including new compounds 2, 3, 5 and 6), without the angeloyl or tigloyl groups and with modified glycosidic linkages by hydrolysis, have PEDV inhibitory effects with less cytotoxicity. Compounds 1–7 had no cytotoxicity at 20μM on VERO cells, while compounds 8–10 showed strong cytotoxicity at similar concentrations on PEDV. Our results suggest that escin derivatives showed strong inhibitory activities on PEDV replication with lowered cytotoxicity. These studies propose a method to utilize Japanese horse chestnut for treating PEDV and to increase the diversity of its bioactive compounds.