Lanostane Triterpenoids from Fruiting Bodies of Ganoderma leucocontextum

The higher fungi of Ganoderma are documented by many ancient Chinese Medicine books as tonic drugs for their health function. Modern pharmacological researches have illuminated that the effective components of the genus Ganoderma are mainly polysaccharides [ 1 – 3 ] and triterpenoids [ 4 , 5 ]. Triterpenoids derived from Ganoderma spp., especially lanostane-type, have been one of the hotspots for a long time and the number of triterpenoids isolated from this genus has exceeded 300 [ 6 – 10 ]. G. leucocontextum is a special fungus because it is mainly distributed in plateau areas and has rarely been reported for its chemical compositions [ 6 ]. In the previous research, we have reported eighteen lanostane triterpenoids from this fungus [ 10 ]. In order to further make clear the secondary constituents of G. leucocontextum and comprehend its intrinsic differences from other common species, a further chemical investigation on the fruiting bodies of G. leucocontextum was carried out, which led to the discovery of six new lanostane triterpenoids, along with twelve known ones (Fig. 1 ). This study has shed light on the similarity of chemical structures between G. leucocontextum and other species, which are mostly lanostane type triterpenoids [ 11 ]. All the new compounds were evaluated for their cytotoxicities against human myelogenous leukemia (K562), hepatocellular carcinoma (SMMC-7721) and breast cancer (MCF-7) cells lines.