Abstract

Cyclotides are mini-proteins with potent bioactivities and outstanding potential for agricultural and pharmaceutical applications. More than 450 different plant cyclotides have been isolated from six angiosperm families. In Brazil, studies involving this class of natural products are still scarce, despite its rich floristic diversity. Herein were investigated the cyclotides from Anchietea pyrifolia roots, a South American medicinal plant from the family Violaceae. Fourteen putative cyclotides were annotated by LC-MS. Among these, three new bracelet cyclotides, anpy A-C, and the known cycloviolacins O4 (cyO4) and O17 (cyO17) were sequenced through a combination of chemical and enzymatic reactions followed by MALDI-MS/MS analysis. Their cytotoxic activity was evaluated by a cytotoxicity assay against three human cancer cell lines (colorectal carcinoma cells: HCT 116 and HCT 116 TP53(-/-) and breast adenocarcinoma, MCF 7). For all assays, the IC50 values of isolated compounds ranged between 0.8 and 7.3 mu M. CyO17 was the most potent cyclotide for the colorectal cancer cell lines (IC50, 0.8 and 1.2 mu M). Furthermore, the hemolytic activity of anpy A and B, cyO4, and cyO17 was assessed, and the cycloviolacins were the least hemolytic (HD50 > 156 mu M). This work sheds light on the cytotoxic effects of the anpy cyclotides against cancer cells. Moreover, this study expands the number of cyclotides obtained to date from Brazilian plant biodiversity and adds one more genus containing these molecules to the list of the Violaceae family.