Cytotoxic and antiviral activities of Jatropha variegata and Jatropha spinosa in relation to their metabolite profile

Jatropha variegata and Jatropha spinosa (family: Euphorbiaceae) are utilized in Yemeni traditional medicine to treat respiratory tract infection and in different skin conditions such as wound healing, as antibacterial and hemostatic. In this study, we evaluated the cytotoxicity and the antiviral activities of the methanolic J. variegata (leaves: Ext-1 , stems: Ext-2 , and roots: Ext-3 ), and J. spinosa extracts (aerial parts: Ext-4 and roots: Ext-5 ), in addition to their methylene chloride fractions of roots extracts ( F-6 and F-7 , respectively). All samples were tested against three human cancer cell lines in vitro (MCF-7, HepG2, and A549) and two viruses (HSV-2 and H1N1). Both plants showed significant cytotoxicity, among them, the methylene chloride fractions of roots of J. variegata ( F-6 ) and J. spinosa roots (F-7) showed the highest activity on MCF-7 (IC 50 = 1.4 and 1 μg/mL), HepG2 (IC 50 = 0.64 and 0.24 μg/mL), and A549 (IC 50 = 0.7 and 0.5 μg/mL), respectively, whereas the IC 50 values of the standard doxorubicin were (3.83, 4.73, and 4.57 μg/mL) against MCF-7, HepG2, and A549, respectively. These results revealed that the roots of both plants are potential targets for cytotoxic activities. The in vitro results revealed potential antiviral activity for each of Ext-3, Ext-5, F-6, and F-7 against HVS-2 with IC 50 of 101.23, 68.83, 4.88, 3.24 μg/mL and against H1N1 with IC 50 of 51.29, 27.92, 4.24, and 3.06 μg/mL respectively, whereas the IC 50 value of the standard acyclovir against HVS-2 was 83.19 μg/mL and IC 50 value of the standard ribavirin against H1N1 was 52.40 μg/mL .The methanol extracts of the roots ( Ext-3 and Ext-5 ) of both plants were characterized using UPLC/MS. A total of 73 metabolites were annotated, including fourteen diterpenoids, eleven flavonoids, ten phenolic acid conjugates, twelve fatty acids and their conjugates, five triterpenes and steroids, two sesquiterpenes, and six coumarins. The cytotoxicity and antiviral activities determined in the present work are explained by the existence of flavonoids, coumarins and diterpenes with commonly known cytotoxicity and antiviral activities.