Four new minor monosulfated triterpene penta- and hexaosides, cladolosides S (
1), S
1 (
2), T (
3), and T
1 (
4), were isolated from the Vietnamese sea cucumber
Cladolabes schmeltzii (Sclerodactylidae, Dendrochirotida). The structures of the
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Four new minor monosulfated triterpene penta- and hexaosides, cladolosides S (
1), S
1 (
2), T (
3), and T
1 (
4), were isolated from the Vietnamese sea cucumber
Cladolabes schmeltzii (Sclerodactylidae, Dendrochirotida). The structures of the compounds were established based on extensive analysis of 1D and 2D NMR spectra as well as HR-ESI-MS data. Cladodosides S (
1), S
1 (
2) and T (
3), T
1 (
4) are two pairs of dehydrogenated/hydrogenated compounds that share identical carbohydrate chains. The oligosaccharide chain of cladolosides of the group S is new for the sea cucumber glycosides due to the presence of xylose residue attached to C-4 Xyl1 in combination with a sulfate group at C-6 MeGlc4. The oligosaccharide moiety of cladolosides of the group T is unique because of the position of the sulfate group at C-3 of the terminal sugar residue instead of the 3
-O-Me group. This suggests that the enzymatic processes of sulfation and
O-methylation that occur during the biosynthesis of glycosides can compete with each other. This can presumably occur due to the high level of expression or activity of the enzymes that biosynthesize glycosides. The mosaicism of glycoside biosynthesis (time shifting or dropping out of some biosynthetic stages) may indicate a lack of compartmentalization inside the cells of organism producers, leading to a certain degree of randomness in enzymatic reactions; however, this also offers the advantage of providing chemical diversity of the glycosides. Analysis of the hemolytic activity of a series of 26 glycosides from
C. schmeltzii revealed some patterns of structure–activity relationships: the presence or absence of 3
-O-methyl groups has no significant impact, hexaosides, which are the final products of biosynthesis and predominant compounds of the glycosidic fraction of
C. schmeltzii, are more active than their precursors, pentaosides, and the minor tetraosides, cladolosides of the group A, are weak membranolytics and therefore are not synthesized in large quantities. Two glycosides from
C. schmeltzii, cladolosides D (
18) and H
1 (
26), display selectivity of cytotoxic action toward triple-negative breast cancer cells MDA-MB-231, while remaining non-toxic in relation to normal mammary cells MCF-10A. Quantitative structure–activity relationships (QSAR) were calculated based on the correlational analysis of the physicochemical properties and structural features of the glycosides and their hemolytic and cytotoxic activities against healthy MCF-10A cells and cancer MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cell lines. QSAR highlighted the complexity of the relationships as the cumulative effect of many minor contributions from individual descriptors can have a significant impact. Furthermore, many structural elements were found to have different effects on the activity of the glycosides against different cell lines. The opposing effects were especially pronounced in relation to hormone-dependent breast cancer cells MCF-7 and triple-negative MDA-MB-231 cells.
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