Acute Anti-Cancer Activity of Crude Extracts from two Endophytic Fungi Chaetomium cochliodes and Penicillium Sp. in Cancer Cell Lines and Mice

Jingfang Xiao, Qinghua Ma, Ruili Cai, Jingya Miao, Zexuan Yan, Xiaolong Yang and Yemiao Chen

Background and Objective: The discovery of novel natural lead compounds is the key issue in searching for new anti-tumour drugs. Endophytic fungi have been proved to be a promising source for new bioactive compounds with potential application in medicine. This study aimed to investigate the activity of antiproliferation, cell cycle arrest, induction of apoptosis and anti-tumour growth of the crude extracts from the two endophytic fungi, Chaetomium cochliodes and Penicillium sp. Materials and Methods: The crude extracts of the fungi Chaetomium cochliodes and Penicillium sp., were obtained by enrichment and extraction in vitro. The proliferation, cell cycle and apoptosis were evaluated the killing effects of tumour cells and cytotoxicity in Huh7 and MGC-803 cell lines. The effect of the extract in vivo was studied in a subcutaneously implanted tumour model in C57BL/6 mice. Results: The cancer cell survival rate was almost less than 10% after the treatment of the crude extracts of Chaetomium cochliodes and Penicillium sp., by using a cell proliferation assay. Through the apoptosis assay, the crude extracts from Chaetomium cochliodes and Penicillium sp., significantly increased the number of apoptosis compared with the control group. The crude extract from Chaetomium cochliodes mainly induced G2/M phase arrest of MGC-803 cells, which might be contributing to the apoptosis. Importantly, these two crude extracts significantly reduced the volume and size of subcutaneous transplanted tumours after treatment in transplanted tumour models. Conclusion: The present study demonstrated that the extracts obtained from Chaetomium cochliodes and Penicillium sp., are promising materials for tumour treatment. These results expand the medicinal value of Panax notoginseng and Taxus media and provide a new direction for its clinical application.

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