(-)-Gochnatiolide B, synthesized from dehydrocostuslactone, exhibits potent anti-bladder cancer activity in vitro and in vivo.

With limited success achieved in bladder cancer patient management, novel agents are in urgent need for the purpose of therapy and prevention. As a sesquiterpenoid dimmer isolated from Gochnatia pomculat, (-)-gochnatiolide B has been bio-mimetically synthesized in multiple steps with a poor yield, which heavily limited the further research and clinical application. Herein, (-)-gochnatiolide B was synthesized beginning with dehydrocostuslactone in four steps with a total yield of 26%. MTT assays showed that (-)-gochnatiolide B inhibited the growth of vast majority of human cancer cells especially bladder cancer cells. Mechanistically, (-)-gochnatiolide B induced the increased expression of pro-apoptotic proteins and the decreased expression of anti-apoptosis proteins and further resulted in apoptosis of T24 cells. (-)-Gochnatiolide B induced G1 arrest which associated with SKP2 downregulation, leading to p27/Kip1 accumulation and downregulation of cyclin D1 in T24 cells. Furthermore, in vivo studies showed that (-)-gochnatiolide B remarkably inhibited tumor growth by 81% compared with vehicle control. Taken together, (-)-gochnatiolide B exhibits inhibitory activity against bladder cancer cells both in vitro and in vivo by inducing apoptosis, which suggests that (-)-gochnatiolide B could be an important candidate compound for prevention and treatment of bladder cancer.