Phytochemical, dereplication and anticancer studies of the Brazilian orchid Epidendrum cristatum

This study reports the first phytochemical and anticancer investigation of the Brazilian orchid Epidendrum cristatum. Classical chromatography led to the isolation of the steroids sitosterol (1) and stigmasterol (2), the phenolic compound vanillin (3), and the flavone tricin (4). Additionally, the compounds moupinamide (5), corchoionoside (6), phytosphingosine (7), syringaresinol (8), and 4-(2,6,6-trimethyl-4-oxo-2-cyclohexen-1-yl)-2-butanyl β-D-glucopyranoside (9) were putatively identified using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with high-resolution tandem time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-QToF-HR-MS/MS) analyses. Cytotoxicity assays were conducted against HeLa (human colon cancer cells modified by HPV) and VERO (non-cancerous green monkey kidney cells) cell lines. The crude extract of the plant (CE), the acid chloroform fraction (CAF), and the basic chloroform fraction (CBF) were tested. These fractions exhibited activity against HeLa cells, with cytotoxic concentrations (CC50) of 1.88, 5.69, and 5.04 µg mL-1, respectively, and showed activity against non-cancerous VERO cells, with CC50 values of 1.33, 0.75, and 1.46 µg mL-1, respectively. Finally, the chemophenetic and ecological relevance of the isolated and putatively identified compounds from E. cristatum was discussed based on the available literature.