Ellagic Acid and Resveratrol Prevent the Development of Cisplatin Resistance in the Epithelial Ovarian Cancer Cell Line A2780

OSMAC approach leads to new fusarielin metabolites from Fusarium tricinctum

Using the OSMAC (One Strain MAny Compounds) approach, the fungal endophyte Fusarium tricinctum was cultivated on fruit and vegetable juice-supplemented solid rice media. This led to an up to 80-fold increase in the accumulation of the new natural product fusarielin J (1), as well as to the induction of two new natural products fusarielin K (2) and fusarielin L (3) and the known derivatives fusarielins A (4) and B (5). Compounds 2-5 were not detected when the fungus was grown on rice media lacking either fruit or vegetable juice. The highest increase in the accumulation of compound 1 was observed in the presence of apple and carrot juice, whereas the stimulating effect was weaker for banana juice. Compound 1 exhibited cytotoxicity against the human ovarian cancer cell line A2780, with an IC₅₀ value of 12.5 μM.

Antioxidant Hydroanthraquinones from the Marine Algal-Derived Endophytic Fungus Talaromyces islandicus EN-501

Five new polyhydroxylated hydroanthraquinone derivatives, namely, 8-hydroxyconiothyrinone B (1), 8,11-dihydroxyconiothyrinone B (2), 4R,8-dihydroxyconiothyrinone B (3), 4S,8-dihydroxyconiothyrinone B (4), and 4S,8-dihydroxy-10-O-methyldendryol E (5), were isolated and identified from the culture extract of Talaromyces islandicus EN-501, an endophytic fungus obtained from the inner tissue of the marine red alga Laurencia okamurai. The structures of these compounds were established on the basis of detailed interpretation of their NMR and mass spectroscopic data, and the structures and absolute configurations of compounds 1 and 2 were confirmed by X-ray crystallographic analysis, while the absolute configurations of compounds 3-5 were determined by TDDFT calculations of the ECD spectra. The antimicrobial, antioxidant, and cytotoxic activities of compounds 1-5 were evaluated.

Recent Advances in Anticancer Activities and Drug Delivery Systems of Tannins

Tannins, polyphenols in medicinal plants, have been divided into two groups of hydrolysable and condensed tannins, including gallotannins, ellagitannins, and (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG). Potent anticancer activities have been observed in tannins (especially EGCG) with multiple mechanisms, such as apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, and inhibition of invasion and metastases. Furthermore, the combinational effects of tannins and anticancer drugs have been demonstrated in this review, including chemoprotective, chemosensitive, and antagonizing effects accompanying with anticancer effect. However, the applications of tannins have been hindered due to their poor liposolubility, low bioavailability, off-taste, and shorter half-life time in human body, such as EGCG, gallic acid, and ellagic acid. To tackle these obstacles, novel drug delivery systems have been employed to deliver tannins with the aim of improving their applications, such as gelatin nanoparticles, micelles, nanogold, liposomes, and so on. In this review, the chemical characteristics, anticancer properties, and drug delivery systems of tannins were discussed with an attempt to provide a systemic reference to promote the development of tannins as anticancer agents.