Prospecting for anticancer secondary metabolites produced by phytopathogenic fungi

Abstract

Over the past three decades microorganisms have been studied as a promising source of bioactive molecules opening up wide possibilities for the use in the pharmaceutical industry related to the treatment of several diseases. Recent researches indicate that a significant number of new bioactive natural products are products derived from interactions between these organisms with their respective hosts in a biological system. Therefore, the secondary metabolites involved in phytopathogenic - host chemical interactions represent an underexplored source of biomolecules with significant potential for use in the pharmaceutical industry. This work aims to evaluate the anticancer potential of secondary metabolites produced by different phytopathogens, including 4 strains of Penicillium genus, isolated from different natural sources. These strains will be cultivated on a small-scale and their respective extracts screened for their anticancer activity against the following human tumor cell lines: MDA MB231 (breast), MCF-7 (breast), MCF10A (breast non-tumor cell line), NCI-ADR/RES (ovarian expressing multiple drugs resistance phenotype), NCI-H460 (lung, non-small cells), PC-3 (prostate), HT-29 (colon), U251 (glioma), and non-tumor cell line HaCat (human keratinocytes). Among the eight fungi previously studied, two of them showed promising antiproliferative activity in vitro tests against the tumor cells. Thus, the in vivo tests of these fungi will be performed in order to reproduce the in vitro results observed. The screened extracts will be fractionated using chromatographic techniques and natural products with antitumor activity characterized by using spectroscopic techniques. (AU)