Design, Synthesis of (±)-Millpuline A, and Biological Evaluation for the Lung Cell Protective Effects through SRC

In this study, a visible-light-induced intermolecular [2+2] photocycloaddition reaction based on flavonoids was constructed to address the problems of low yield, poor physicochemical properties, and lack of target definition in total synthesis of (±)-millpuline A whose bioactivity remains unknown. As a result, 20 derivatives were synthesized for bioactivity evaluation. Consequently, lung cell protective effects of (±)-millpuline A and compound B13 a were revealed for the first time and the crucial role of stereoconfiguration of the cyclobutane moiety in their protective effects against NNK in normal lung cells was demonstrated. Moreover, through target prediction and experimental verification in MLE-12 cells, SRC was determined to be the target of (±)-millpuline A regarding its protective effect in NNK-induced lung cell injury. Results from RT-Q-PCR and HTRF experiments verified that (±)-millpuline A could repress SRC activity through a transcriptional mechanism but not acting as an inhibitor to directly bind to and thereby inhibit SRC protein. The results in this paper are informative for the further development of visible light-catalyzed cycloaddition of flavonoids and lay a scientific foundation for understanding the bioactivity and underlying mechanism of (±)-millpuline A and other structurally similar natural skeletons.