Chemical Identification of Cacumen Platycladi by Molecular Networking and its Anti-colorectal Cancer Effects

Cacumen Platycladi (CP) has been utilized in China as a traditional medicine to prevent and treat haemorrhage diseases. However, the chemical profiling and anti-colorectal cancer effects of CP have not yet been fully decoded. In this study, the comprehensive profiling and characterizing of multi-components of CP were performed by applying an untargeted UHPLC-QTOF-MS-based multi-informative molecular networking strategy. 180 compounds were unambiguously or reasonably identified, including flavonoids, flavonoid glycosides, phenolic acids, phenolic glycosides, lignans, and so on. Some of them were previously unreported in CP. Simultaneously, the anti-colorectal cancer activity of various solvent extracts of CP was examined. The extracts of CP have better inhibition effects on the proliferation of HT-29, Caco-2 and SW620 human colon cancer cells. Collectively, our results can serve as references for targeted extracting potential active compounds of CP on colorectal cancer, and pave the way to clarify the material basis of efficacy.