Two new cytotoxic ursane triterpenoids from the aerial parts of Salvia urmiensis Bunge

Bioassay-guided fractionation of a dichloromethane extract of the aerial parts of Salvia urmiensis, an endemic plant species of Iran, led to the isolation of two new cytotoxic ursane triterpenoids, Salvurmin A and Salvurmin B. Their structures were elucidated by a combination of 1D and 2D NMR, HR-ESI-MS, IR and UV analysis. Cytotoxicity of the above-mentioned compounds were evaluated against two human cancerous cell lines (SW1116, MCF-7). IC50 values for Salvurmin A and Salvurmin B on colon cancer cell line (SW1116) were 41.6 +/- 2.6 and 23.2 +/- 0.4 mu M respectively, in comparison to cisplatin as control positive. In addition, these two compounds exhibited cytotoxic activity on breast cancer cell line (MCF-7) with an IC50 of 54.2 +/- 5.3 and 40.2 +/- 3.1 mu M for Salvurmin A and Salvurmin B, respectively. The cytotoxic activities of these two compounds present a promising potential for the future investigation on this endemic species of Salvia.