Cytotoxic, immunomodulatory, antimycotic, and antiviral activities of semisynthetic 14-hydroxyabietane derivatives and triptoquinone C-4 epimers

A series of C14-hydroxy derivatives of dehydroabietic acid were synthesised from commercial abietic acid and evaluated for their cytotoxic, antimycotic, and antiviral activities. From these C14-hydroxy derivatives, triptoquinone C-4 epimers were obtained and their immunomodulatory activity was additionally evaluated. None of the tested compounds showed antiviral activity against herpes simplex virus type 1 (HHV-1), and nor did they display antimycotic activity against certain Aspergillus, spp. except for one compound, abieta-8,11,13-trien-14,18-diol. Interestingly, two triptoquinone epimers showed cytotoxic activity, and one of them induced mitochondrial potential loss, DNA damage and cell …