Antiproliferative and apoptotic sesquiterpene lactones from Carpesium faberi

Four new (1-4) and 13 known sesquiterpene lactones together with two known diterpenes were isolated from Carpesium faberi. All isolated compounds were evaluated for their antiproliferative activities against MCF-7 human breast cancer cells using the MTT assay. The sesquiterpene lactones (except tomentosin 17) possessing an α-methylene-γ-lactone moiety were found to have significant antiproliferative activities. The cell cycle-specific inhibition and apoptosis induced by selected compounds were investigated using flow cytometry (FCM).