ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Chem.
Sec. Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry
This article is part of the Research TopicIsolation, Structural Elucidation, and Biological Evaluation of Bioactive Products from Traditional Medicine-Volume IIView all 8 articles
Diterpenoids and triterpenoids from the roots of Tripterygium regelii and their inhibitory effects on colorectal cancer cells
Provisionally accepted
Ping Guo1Jianming Yu1Qi Zhao1Jintao Sun1Rongxin Lin2Linlin Sui1
Aijing Leng3
Chao Wang1Shuo Wang2
Dawei Li1*- 1Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China
- 2Dalian Fusheng Natural Medicine Development Co ., Ltd, Dalian, China
- 3The First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China
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A total of 22 terpenoids including one new triterpenoid (1), two new diterpenoids (2 and 3), and nineteen known compounds (4–22) were isolated from the roots of Tripterygium regelii. Their structures were identified using NMR and HRESIMS techniques. Antiproliferative activity screening assays revealed that the new compound 2, along with several known compounds, exhibits potential anti-colorectal cancer efficacy. Further investigations employing flow cytometry, immunofluorescence staining and electron microscopy demonstrated that compound 2 induces the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). This, in turn, promotes lipid peroxidation and mitochondrial damage, ultimately enhancing ferroptosis in colorectal cancer cells. These findings underscore the value of compound 2 as a potential candidate for anti-tumor drug development.
Keywords: Colorectal Cancer cells, diterpenoids, ferroptosis, Tripterygium regelii, triterpenoids
Received: 09 Jan 2026; Accepted: 04 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Guo, Yu, Zhao, Sun, Lin, Sui, Leng, Wang, Wang and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Dawei Li
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