Cytotoxic constituents of <i>Lasiosphaera fenzlii</i> on different cell lines and the synergistic effects with paclitaxel

Abstract

The fruit body of Lasiosphaera fenzlii was found to show cytotoxicity on cancer cells during a preliminary screening. Repeated column chromatography of the fungal methanol extract resulted in the isolation of six compounds identified as 5α,8α-epidioxy-ergosta-6,22-dien-3β-ol (1), 5α,8α-epidioxy-ergosta-6,9(11),22-trien-3β-ol (2), 5α-ergosta-7,22-dien-3β-ol (3), 5α-ergosta-7,22-dien-3-one (4), ergosta-7,22-dien-3β,5α,6β-triol (5) and 6-dihydroxy-2,3-dihydro-1H-isoindol-1-one (6). The two peroxide compounds, 1 and 2, showed cytotoxic activity and compound 1 was selectively cytotoxic to cancer cells. Furthermore, compound 1 synergised the cytotoxicity of paclitaxel on Hela cells by increasing intracellular accumulation of paclitaxel in cancer cells but not in normal cells.