Lamellarins are among the most interesting marine coumarins with a wide variety of biological activities. Lamellarins are characterized by a 14-phenyl-6
H-
[139] benzopyrano[40′,3′:4,5]pyrrolo[2,1-α] isoquinolin-6-one ring system and, because of the central pyrrole ring, can be also considered as alkaloids. Since 1985, more than 50 lamellarins have been discovered from various marine organisms. Lamellarins D (
37), M (
38) and K (
39) are among the most cytotoxic, exhibiting IC
50 values often in a nanomolar concentration range against different cancer cell lines
[140][141]. For example, lamellarin D (
37) was isolated from the marine molluscs of the genus
Lamellaria and assayed against 12 human cancer cells, of which LNCaP, DU-145 and K562 were strongly affected, as demonstrated by the 50% growth inhibition concentrations in the 10–20 nM range. Furthermore, murine and human leukemia cells, both sensitive (P-388, CEM) and resistant (P388CPT5, CEM/C2) to camptothecin, respectively, were used for the evaluation of the correlation of topoisomerase I and cytotoxicity. At concentrations of 136 and 1482 nM,
37 inhibited growths of P-388 and P388CPT5 by 50%, respectively, while it was more active against human cell lines with determined IC
50 values of 14 and 969 nM against CEM and CEM/C2, respectively. Lamellarin D (
37) was found to be a novel topoisomerase I inhibitor due to intercalation into the DNA–topoisomerase I complex, resulting in its stabilization
[142]. That was also observed by Ballot and her group
[143] who reported another mode of antitumor activity by targeting cancer cell mitochondria
[144][145]. As stated by the authors, compound
37 induced apoptosis of the above mentioned cell lines, P388 and topoisomerase I–mutated subclone P388CPT5 by increasing the levels of proapoptotic protein, Bax, and decreasing the expression of antiapoptotic proteins, Bcl-2 and cIAP2, along with caspase-3/-9 activation
[143]. The great interest in this compound facilitated total syntheses of
37 and its structural analogues, together with the simultaneous evaluation of their biological activities
[146][147]. Furthermore, lamellarins M (
38) and K (
39), found in the tunicates of the genus
Didemnum, remarkably inhibited the growth of several cancer cell lines, more precisely, P388, multidrug-resistant P388 (Schabel), a wild type of chinese hamster ovary cells, CHO (AUXB1), AUXB1 cells resistant to doxorubicin (CCH
RC5), A549, HT29, and human melanoma cells (MEL28). The measured 50% inhibitory concentrations were 0.15, 0.17, 0.07, 0.17, 0.06, 0.56, 0.54 and 0.19, 0.017, 0.19, 0.75, 0.18, 0.38, 0.40 μM for
38 and
39, respectively
[148]. Recently, some new lamellarins with specific structures and promising anticancer activities were discovered, as discussed by Vazquez-Rodriguez et al.
[132].
In 2007, Du and co-workers first reported the isolation, structural characterization and biological evaluation of the anthraquinone derivative, aspergiolide A (
40), derived from the marine fungus,
Aspergillus galucus. At concentrations of 0.13, 0.28, 7.5 and 35 μM,
40 inhibited the growth of A-549, HL-60, BEL-7402 and P388 cells for 50%, respectively
[149]. Considerably more detailed and extensive studies were conducted in 2014, investigating both the anticancer and pharmacokinetic properties of aspergiolide A (
40). Compound
40 exhibited significant activity against 11 cancer cells with micromolar IC
50 values (2.37–7.07 μM). The Western blot analysis showed that
40 induced caspase-mediated apoptosis of BEL-7402 cancer cells, related to the increase and decrease of Bax and Bcl-2 expressions, respectively. Further, the inhibition of DNA topoisomerase II by
40 was revealed, comparable to the positive control, adriamycin but with less toxic consequences. Finally, compound
40 successfully suppressed the growth of H22 and BEL-7402 cancer xenografts in mice without major effects on body weight
[150]. A structural analogue of
40, aspergiolide B (
41), was also isolated by the group mentioned above from the same fungus species,
A. glaucus. The authors observed that the
O-methylation of the hydroxyl group at position C-8 did not affect the anticancer properties of
41 since they reported IC
50 values of 0.24 and 0.51 μM against A-549 and HL-60 cancer cell lines, respectively
[151]. Thus, the presence of the naphtho[1,2,3-
de]chromene-2,7-dione structural feature, characteristic for both aspergiolides A (
40) and B (
41), might be used for the synthesis of new anticancer derivatives. Moreover, an in silico analysis indicated that
41 is a potential EGFR-TK inhibitor displaying low binding free energy in active site containing MET-766, THR-790 and THR-854 amino acid residues
[152].
2.5. Terpenophenolics
The structural complexity of marine secondary metabolites is manifested by the presence of terpenophenolic compounds, in particular, meroditerpenes
42–
47 and merosesquiterpenes
48–
51 (
Figure 5). The first include chromenes, chromanols and plastoquinones which contain a hydroquinone skeleton linked to the side polyprenyl chain. The other hydroquinones will be discussed in the
Section 3.6 [153]. The biosynthesis, structural features and biological activities of marine merosesquiterpenes were already extensively reviewed by Le Bideau et al.
[154]. Their structures contain a phenolic core derived from the polyketide pathway and a unique, isoprenoid cyclic moiety. Although they can be isolated from marine sponges and gorgonian soft corals
[155], brown macroalgae of the genus
Stypopodium [156][157][158][159] and red seagrasses of the genus
Laurbncia [160][161][162][163] are the main producers of these molecules. Like other marine-derived compounds, terpenophenolics differ in oxygenation and unsaturation levels as well as in the presence of one or more halogen atoms (
Figure 5). Many studies have demonstrated their broad-spectrum of biological activities including ichthyotoxicity, insecticidal activity, tyrosine kinase inhibition, antimicrobial activity, microtubule inhibition and the antiproliferative effect against cancer cells
[153][154][156][157][159].
Figure 5. Chemical structures of meroditerpenes 42–47 isolated from brown algae (Stypopodium spp.). Sesquiterpenes 48–50 isolated from red algae (Laurencia spp.), 51 isolated from sponge, Didiscus flavus, and plastoquinones 52–55 isolated from brown algae Sargassum sp.
Dorta and his colleagues used a brown alga,
Stypopodium zonale from Macaronesia Archipelago, to extract terpenoids bearing phenolic moiety. Compound
42 displayed potent activity against HT-29, H-116 and A549 cells with IC
50 values being 2.5 μg/mL or less
[156]. Two other studies, using a different species of brown algae,
Stypopodium flabelliforme, resulted in the isolation of the meroditerpenoids
43–
46 [157][159]. Their anticancer activities were evaluated against several cancer and non-transformed cell lines by Pereira et al.
[157]. The highest activity of almost 100% inhibition of cell proliferation was observed against human neuroblastoma cells (SH-SY5Y) for all compounds. Even though the authors did not provide the exact IC
50 values, they can be clearly seen from the reported graphical representations as 6.25–12.5, <12.5 and 12.5–25 μM for epitaondiol (
43), epitaondiol monoacetate (
44) and stypodiol (
45), respectively. Since the only difference between
43 and
44 is the absence and presence of the acetoxy group, it can be assumed that acetylation of
43 decreased biological activities. Interestingly,
43 and
44 were remarkably active against Chinese hamster fibroblasts (V79), unlike stypodiol (
45), which showed little effect on normal cells
[157]. The neurotoxicity of meroditerpenes from
S. flabelliforme was also demonstrated by Sabry and co-workers
[159]. They assayed flabellinol (
46) against mouse neuroblastoma cell lines (Neuro-2a) which displayed LC
50 values in the range from 2 to 11 μM. Moreover, at a concentration of 9 μM,
46 inhibited the growth by 50% of NCI-H460 cancer cells
[159].
Shizuri and Yamada were first to isolate and determine the structure of dimeric sesquiterpene, laurebiphenyl (
47), from the red algae,
Laurencia nidifica, comprising of a unique, cyclolaurane-type of the skeleton
[161]. Compound
47 was later extracted from
Laurencia tristricha, collected from the Naozhou Island and tested against several cancer cell lines. Sun and co-workers
[160] reported significant cytotoxicity of laurebiphenyl (
47) against BGC-823, HeLa, A549, HCT-8 and Bel7402 cells with determined IC
50 values of 1.22, 1.61, 1.68, 1.77 and 1.91 μg/mL, respectively. Roussis and his team used another
Laurencia species,
L. microcladia from the North Aegean Sea, to obtain novel cytotoxic sesquiterpenes
48–
50, which were published in two independent studies
[162][163]. 7-Hydroxylaurene (
48) exhibited an antiproliferative effect against human cancer cell lines (MCF-7, PC3, A431, HeLa and K562) as well as CHO, inducing 50% of proliferation inhibition at concentrations of 15.8, 18.1, 23.9, 40.5, 64.2 and 78.2 μM, respectively. As hypothesized by the authors, the presence of an exocyclic-methylene group might be responsible for the observed biological activity
[162]. Finally, sesquiterpenes
49 and sterochemically undefined
50 exhibited mild antiproliferative activities against lung cancer cells, NSCLC-N6 (IC
50 = 73.4 and 83.7 μM) and A549 (IC
50 = 52.4 and 81.0 μM), respectively. The authors assumed that the presence of the hydroxyl group and the unsaturated cyclopentenyl moiety led to higher activity while the bromine did not remarkably affect the overall results
[163].
Another bisabolane-type sesquiterpene phenol, (+)-curcuphenol (
51), was firstly isolated from the marine sponge,
Didiscus flavus, in 1987 by Wright et al.
[155]. The compound
51 was also found in another marine sponge,
Myrmekioderma styx, as well as a terrestrial plant,
Baccharis genistelloides [164]. At a concentration of 7 μg/mL,
51 induced 50% inhibition of P-388 cells, while the minimum inhibitory concentrations against A-549, MDA-MB and HCT-8 were determined as 10, 0.1 and 0.1 μg/mL, respectively
[164].
Further,
51 demonstrated moderate antiproliferative activity against four HCT-116 cells (with or without the expression of the p53 and p21 genes). Its activity did not depend on the p53 nor p21 mechanism since IC
50 values of 27, 33, 33 and 35 μg/mL were determined for p53
+/+, p53
−/−, p21
+/+ and p21
−/−, respectively
[165]. Finally, Rodrigo and her colleagues used CaCo-2 colon cancer cells to evaluate the action mechanism of (+)-curcuphenol (
51). They showed that this secondary metabolite inhibited the proliferation and DNA synthesis associated with the induction of apoptosis via caspase-3 activation
[164].
The organic extract of an Australian marine brown alga,
Sargassum fallax, was used to isolate plastoquinones, sargaquinoic acid (
52) and sargahydroquinoic acid (
53). Both
52 and
53 exhibited prominent antitumor activity with IC
50 values of 17 and 14 μM against P388 cells, respectively
[166]. A previous study of Hur and colleagues had revealed that sargaquinoic acid (
52) induced caspase-mediated apoptosis in a human keratinocyte cell line, HaCaT, while it had no effect on the Bcl-2 and Bax proteins’ expressions
[167]. On the other side, plastoquinones
54 and
55 obtained from another
Sargassum species,
S. micracanthum, displayed significantly higher and comparable antiproliferative activity against the murine colon 26-L5 adenocarcinoma cell line (IC
50 = 1.51 and 1.69 μg/mL, respectively)
[168].
2.6. Quinones and Hydroquinones
Quinones possess a conjugated cyclic dione function and hydroquinones are their reduced derivatives. They belong to the aromatic organic compounds and can be obtained by the oxidation processes of certain phenolic molecules. They differ in carbon skeletons and might be formed by inter- and intramolecular cyclizations further linked to specific amino acids residues or carbohydrate units. In addition, quinone and hydroquinone moieties can also be present in terpenes and terpenoids, of which some were discussed in the previous section (vide supra) that resulted in a rather challenging classification
[169][170]. Chemical structures of quinones and hidroquinones originating from marine species, mainly
Streptomyces sp., are presented in
Figure 6 and
Figure 7.
Figure 6. Chemical structures of moromycin B (56), saquayamycins B (57) and B1 (58) isolated from the Streptomyces sp. OC1610.4 strain, buanmycin (59), isolated from the Streptomyces strain, SNR69, komodoquinone A (60), isolated from the Streptomyces sp. KS3 strain and fradimycin A (61), fradimycin B (62) and MK844-mF10 (63), isolated from the Streptomyces fradiae strain PTZ0025.
Figure 7. Makaluvamines D (64), K (65), J (66), P (67) and F (68) isolated from the two sponge genera of Zyzzya and Latrunculi, mayamycin (69) and N-acetyl-N-demethylmayamycin (70) isolated from the Streptomyces sp. strains HB202 and 182SMLY, respectively; monacyclinone F (71) isolated from the Streptomyces sp. strain M7_15, galvaquinone B (72) and lupinacidin A (73) isolated from the Streptomyces spinoverrucosus and hierridin B (74) isolated from the Phormidium ectocarpi and Cyanobium sp. and its structural analogue, norhierrdin B (75).
The broth medium of the marine-derived
Streptomyces sp. OC1610.4 strain was used to extract angucycline glycosides, moromycin B (
56), saquayamycins B (
57) and B1 (
58), consisting of tetrangomycin core
C- or
O-linked to one or two deoxysugar units (
Figure 6). Cytotoxicity assays revealed that all three compounds,
56–
58, remarkably reduced the proliferation of breast cancer cells (MCF-7, MDA-MB-231 and BT-474) in a sub-micromolar range (0.16–0.67 μM), comparable to the standard control, doxorubicin. Furthermore, transwell and wound-healing assays showed potential antimetastatic properties of
57 since it reduced the invasion and migration of MDA-MB-231 cells at concentrations of 25 and 50 nM
[171].
Another marine
Streptomyces strain, SNR69, which was later found to be the most similar to
Streptomyces cyaneus, was collected from a tidal mud in Buan (Republic of Korea) and identified as a producer of novel, pentacyclic buanmycin (
59) that exerted both antibacterial and cytotoxic properties. As reported by the authors,
59 strongly inhibited 50% of the proliferation of A549, HCT116, SNU638, SK-HEP1 and MDA-MB-231 cells at concentrations of 1.7, 0.9, 0.8, 1.9 and 1.2 μM, respectively, similarly to etoposide used as a positive control. Contrary,
59 showed no activity towards the K562 cell line
[172].
Itoh and co-workers isolated and determined the absolute stereochemistry of komodoquinone A (
60) from the marine
Streptomyces sp. KS3 strain. It is an anthracycline containing an amino sugar connected to the ring system and bearing a unique methyl substituent at position 9. As shown, compound
60 can induce morphological changes and lead to neuritogenic activity against the neuroblastoma cell line (Neuro 2A). Interestingly, the cell cycle of Neuro 2A cells was arrested at the G1 phase, contrary to other anthracycline antibiotics which intercalate in DNA, indicating a different mechanism of action of
60. The authors assumed that the carbohydrate moiety might be a prerequisite for the observed biological results since the aglycon part was weakly active
[173][174].
In 2012, a study performed by Xin and colleagues using the marine
Streptomyces fradiae strain, PTZ0025, led to the isolation of the capoamycin-type antibiotics
61,
62 and
63, characterized by a benz[a]anthraquinone core linked to a deoxysugar and polyenyl side chain
[175]. Moreover, another
Streptomyces fradiae strain, BDMS1, was also found to produce the abovementioned metabolites
[176]. As reported by the authors, fradimycin A (
61), fradimycin B (
62) and analogue MK844-mF10 (
63) exhibited potent inhibitory activity in vitro, against human colon cancer cells (HCT-15 and SW620) and rat glioma cells (C6). Compound
62 was the most active, displaying IC
50 values of 0.13, 4.33 and 0.47 μM against HCT-15, SW620 and C6, respectively. For that reason, the mechanism of action of compound
62 was further studied and it was found that
62 induced cell cycle arrest at the G0/G1 phase associated with an increase of apoptotic and necrotic cells
[175].
Many studies were performed on interesting pyrroloiminoquinone alkaloids containing a makaluvamine-type scaffold and phenolic substituent, which were isolated from the two sponge genera of
Zyzzya and
Latrunculia collected in the Pacific–Oceania region. In addition, a significant cytotoxicity of makaluvamines has been reported through interaction with topoisomerase II resulting in DNA cleavage
[177][178]. Among them, makaluvamines D (
64), K (
65), J (
66) and P (
67) were found to be the most active against the PANC-1 cell line, exhibiting IC
50 values of 0.29, 0.56, 0.054 and 0.3 μM, respectively. Structure–activity relationship studies revealed three main structural properties responsible for potent anticancer activity: a conjugation system in the main makaluvamine core, the presence of a cationic tetrahydropyridinium moiety, and a tyramineyl substituent. Furthermore, since makaluvamine J (
66) also had an IC
50 value in a nanomolar range (120 nM) against the ovarian cancer cell line OVCAR-5, the authors decided to continue with preclinical studies by using
66 [179]. Despite the existence of a planar structure and a positive charge that contributes to the high affinity for DNA, already in 2005, Dijoux and her colleagues showed that intercalation into DNA is not the only mode of its action
[180]. On the other side, structurally different and stereochemically undefined makaluvamine F (
68) also displayed strong inhibitory activity in a sub-micromolar range against HCT-116 with a determined IC
50 value of 0.17 μM
[181]. Further, in 2016, Goey et al. found that this natural product reduced the activity of HIF-1α and its downstream target, VEGF indicating the possible role of makaluvamines in hypoxia conditions
[182]. Synthetic approaches in the preparation of some makaluvamines, as well as their structural analogues, were also reported
[183][184][185].
The culture broth of the
Streptomyces sp. strain HB202, derived from the marine sponge,
Halichondria panicea, was used to isolate and characterize mayamycin (
69), a novel benz[a]anthracene derivative. More precisely,
69 is known for its unique
C-bounded angolosamine unit, with a dimethylamino group at the C-5 of the skeleton. Mayamycin (
69) exhibited potent activity with determined IC
50 values of 0.2, 0.3, 0.2, 0.16, 0.29, 0.13, 0.15 and 0.33 μM against eight cancer cell lines, HepG2, HT-29, GXF251L, LXF529L, MAXF401NL, MEXF462NL, PAXF1657L and RXF486L, respectively. As published by the authors,
69 was also cytotoxic toward a mouse fibroblast cell line (NIH-3T3)
[186]. An analogue of
69,
N-acetyl-
N-demethylmayamycin (
70), was obtained in 2016 from another marine
Streptomyces strain, 182SMLY, by Liang et al.
[187]. The authors reported that treatment with
70 resulted in 50% of proliferation inhibition at the concentrations of 0.7, 1.4, 3.9 and 0.5 μM, against U251, U87-MG, SHG-44 and C6 glioma cell lines, respectively, as determined by sulforhodamine B assay. Furthermore, it was shown that
70 can induce apoptosis in U251 cells
[187]. Synthetic routes toward mayamycin have been discussed and published emphasizing intramolecular aldol condensation and Hauser annulation as key steps
[188][189].
In 2015, six new angucyclinone derivatives were extracted from the sponge-derived
Streptomyces sp. Strain, M7_15, of which monacyclinone F (
71) showed the highest activity against rhabdomycosarcoma cancer cells (SJCRH30) displaying an EC
50 value of 0.73 μM. The authors concluded that the structural characteristic arising from the presence of two epoxide rings, aminodeoxysugar and ketone moiety could be of great importance for biological activity
[190].
Anthraquinones with alkyl substituents, galvaquinone B (
72) and lupinacidin A (
73), were isolated from the marine-derived
Streptomyces spinoverrucosus by Hu and colleagues
[191]. They screened both metabolites for cytotoxic activity against Calu-3 and H2887 cancer cell lines and reported IC
50 values of 5.0 and 12.2 μM for
72 and 8.8 and 3.1 μM for
73, respectively. Recently, Sottorff and his team isolated both
72 and
73 from the sea anemone (
Gyractis sesere) from Easter Island, but further confirmed the Actinobacteria of the genus
Verrucosispora as the exact producer of those compounds
[192].
In 1998, Papendorf and his colleagues used the marine cyanobacterium
Phormidium ectocarpi to isolate hierrdin B (
74), a methylated hydrouinone with a long aliphatic chain which showed antiplasmodial activity
[193]. However, its cytotoxic potential was examined against a panel of human cancer cell lines only in 2013. Leão et al. purified
74 from the marine picocyanobacterium
Cyanobium sp. LEGE 06113, and determined its selective, but weak, activity towards HT-29 cells with an IC
50 value of 100.2 µM
[194]. The same group used the aforementioned cells to evaluate the mechanism underlying the biological activity of hierrdin B (
74). The authors pointed out that
74 targets mitochondrial activity by increasing the mRNA expression of VDAC1, a key protein involved in mitochondria-mediated apoptosis. That observation was accompanied with the inhibition of cell cycle progression induced by
74 [195]. In the meantime, an analogue of the natural product
74, norhierridin B (
75), was synthesized with improved inhibitory activity against several cancer cell lines by activating the p53 pathway. The IC
50 values of 0.61, 0.77, 0.68, 2.0, 0.61 and 3.2 µM against MDA-MB-231, SKBR3, MDA-MB-468, A375, Huh-7 and HCT116 were measured, respectively. Therefore, the authors suggested that the presence of two hydroxy groups in the quinone skeleton is of great importance for the improvement of anticancer activity
[196].
2.7. Miscellaneous Compounds
The ethyl-acetate extract of the sponge-derived fungus of the genus
Didymellaceae was used to isolate several phenol derivatives including diorcinol L (
76) (
Figure 8). It exhibited potent antiproliferative activity against Huh-7, DU145, HeLa and HL60 cancer cell lines with determined IC
50 values of 5.7, 9.1, 7.1 and 9.6 µM, respectively
[197]. Interestingly, strong activity against cancer cells including DU145 and HeLa of
76, isolated from the endophytic algae-derived fungus,
Aspergillus tennesseensis, was not observed by Zhang et al. However, the authors reported that the dihydrobenzofuran derivative
77 displayed activity towards THP-1 cells since it inhibited the 50% growth of the cells at the concentration of 7.0 µg/mL
[198]. On the other side, the benzophenone derivative, sulochrin (
78), a compound somewhat similar to diorcinol L (
76), was very recently isolated from the Red Sea-derived fungus,
Aspergillus falconensis [199]. At a concentration of 5.1 µM,
78 inhibited 50% growth of a mouse lymphoma cell line (L5178Y), while MDA-MB-231 cell migration was inhibited at 70 µM. The authors also performed docking studies which revealed inhibition activity of
78 against the CDK-2, TOP-2 and MMP-13 proteins.
Figure 8. Diorcinol L (76) isolated from the fungus of the genus Didymellaceae and its derivative 77, sulochrin (78) obtained from the fungus Aspergillus falconensis, penicitrinine A (79) isolated from the Penicillium citrinum, psammaplin A (80) extracted from the marine sponge of the genus Pseudoceratina, and secalonic acids D (81) and F (82) obtained from Penicillium sp. and Aspergillus aculeatus.
Penicitrinine A (
79) is a phenolic derivative with a unique spiro skeleton that was isolated from the marine fungus
Penicillium citrinum. It showed a promising and moderate activity against various solid tumor types in vitro, with A-375 cells being the most sensitive. At the concentrations of 30.88, 12.78 and 7.06 µM, a treatment with
79 for 24 h, 48 h and 72 h, respectively, resulted in 50% growth inhibition of the abovementioned cell line. Furthermore, Liu and co-workers investigated the mechanism of action in detail regarding apoptotic and metastatic activity. The authors revealed that penicitrinine A (
79) induced apoptosis of A-375 cells by decreasing and increasing the expression of the Bcl-2 and Bax proteins, respectively. Additionally,
79 induced cell migration suppression by downregulating MMP-9 and upregulating TIMP-1 levels
[200].
An unusual bromotyrosine metabolite containing oxime and disulfide moieties, psammaplin A (
80), was isolated from the marine sponge of the genus
Pseudoceratina [201]. Several studies have demonstrated anticancer effects of this disulfide dimer, exerted both in vitro and in vivo, as recently extensively reviewed by Jing and co-workers
[201]. In brief, the cytotoxicity of
80 is manifested in the regulation of the expression of proteins involved in angiogenesis, DNA replication, apoptosis, proliferation and invasion. Therefore, it has been revealed that psammaplin A (
80) inhibits aminopeptidase N (APN), mycothiol-S-conjugate amidase (MCA), topoisomerase II, farnesyl protein transferase, histone deacetylases (HDACs) and leucine aminopeptidase
[201]. More importantly, synthetic approaches were developed to prepare both
80 and its analogues, which were found as more potent inhibitors of HDACs
[202] and DOT1L (disruptor of telomeric silencing-1 like) than the natural product
80 [203].
Tang et al. used the culture extract of the marine-derived
Penicillium oxalicum to extract secalonic acid D (
81). The authors demonstrated selective cytotoxic effects of
81 towards PANC-1 cells (IC
50 value of 0.6 µM) which were adapted to certain nutrient conditions associated with the assumption of the mechanism of action via the inhibition of the Akt signalling pathway
[204]. Furthermore,
81 displayed potent cytotoxicity against both sensitive and multidrug resistant cells with determined IC
50 values being: 6.8, 6.4, 5.3, 4.9, 5.1 and 4.9 µM against S1, S1-MI-80, H460, H460/MX20, MCF-7 and MCF-7/ADR, respectively. In addition,
81 was found to induce cell death through c-Jun/Src/STAT3 signalling by inhibiting the proteasome-dependent degradation of c-Jun
[205]. Another research, performed by Guru and colleagues, used secalonic acid D (
81), however, isolated from the terrestrial source. It was revealed that
81 exhibited antitumor activity in both normal (HUVEC) and MCF-7 cancer cells through the Akt/mTOR/p70S6K pathway resulting in the inhibition of eNOS and ERK phosphorylation together with MMP degradation as key pro-angiogenesis factors
[206].
On the other hand, an isomer of
81, secalonic acid F (
82), has been isolated from the marine-derived fungal strains,
Penicillium sp. F11 and
Aspergillus aculeatus [207][208]. A study by Li and colleagues
[208] revealed 50% of growth inhibition of HL-60 cells at the concentration of 4.1 µg/mL, further associated with induction of apoptosis via caspase-3 activation and the modulation of the RhoGDI2 protein. The latter is connected to the invasion and metastasis, thus being recognized as a novel therapeutic approach in cancer treatment
[209]. Further, a phenolic derivative
82 was more potent towards HepG2 cells than the positive control (5-FU), exhibiting IC
50 values of: 45.5, 8.7 and 7.7 µM after 24, 48 and 72 h treatment, respectively. Those observations were, in relation to mitochondrial-mediated apoptosis, more precisely the activation of caspases-3 and -9. The authors also performed in vivo studies that demonstrated lower tumor weights after treatment with
82 [207]. A new biological evaluation of secalonic acid F (
82) resulted in the identification of a potential target, MARCH1, for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma, in which the downregulation suppressed the migration and invasion of HepG2 and Hep3B cancer cells
[210]. Finally, the most recent study obtained by Özenver and co-workers demonstrated the potency and selective toxicity of
82 against leukemia and multiple myeloma cells with regard to normal cells mediated through apoptosis and necrosis, as well as tubulin disassembly
[211].