Novel dammarane-type triterpenes isolated from hydrolyzate of total Gynostemma pentaphyllum saponins

[Display omitted] In this study, five novel triterpenes were isolated from hydrolyzate of total saponins from Gynostemma pentaphyllum and identified as gypensapogenin H (1), gypensapogenin I (2), gypensapogenin L (3), gypensapogenin J (4) and gypensapogenin K (5), three of which (1–3) possess unprecedented ring A. All the isolated compounds were evaluated for cytotoxic activities in five cell lines and all the tested compounds showed significant anti-cancer activities against a series of human cancer cell lines, while having much weaker effect on the growth of normal cell. Among them, compound 1 showed strong inhibition toward MCF-7 human breast cancer cells (IC50 values 6.85μM). Further mechanistic study demonstrated that compound 1 significantly induced MCF-7 cell apoptosis. Our results indicated that compound 1 may be a promising lead agent for further study.