Anti-cancer activity of heteroaromatic acetals of andrographolide and its isomers.

Acetals (, , and ) of andrographolide (), 14-deoxy-12-hydroxyandrographolide (), and isoandrographolide () were synthesized using benzaldehyde and heteroaromatic aldehydes. All the synthesized derivatives were characterized using H-NMR, C-NMR, mass spectrometry, UV, and IR. The compound was characterized a single-crystal X-ray diffraction study. All the compounds were tested against 60 cell lines of NCI. The acetals () of andrographolide () exhibited better activity than the acetals (, and ) of 12-hydroxyandrographolide () and isoandrographolide (). Preliminary studies suggested that acetals synthesized using benzaldehyde improved anticancer activity. Compound showed the highest growth inhibition of 90.97% against the leukaemia cancer cell line CCRF-CEM. Andrographolide and seven selected compounds were tested against the MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell line. Compound showed the best activity with an IC value of 3 μM among all the tested compounds. Furthermore, this compound was subjected to cell cycle analysis and protein expression confirming apoptosis through the disruption of the mitochondrial potential membrane (Δ ).