Anticancer activity of Ophiobolin A, isolated from the endophytic fungus Bipolaris setariae

Ophiobolin A was isolated using preparative HPLC and its structure was confirmed by HRMS, 1 H NMR, 13 C NMR, COSY, DEPT, HSQC and HMBC. It inhibited solid and haematological cancer cell proliferation with IC 50 of 0.4–4.3 μM. In comparison, IC 50 against normal cells was 20.9 μM. It was found to inhibit the phosphorylation of S6 (IC 50 = 1.9 ± 0.2 μM), ERK (IC 50 = 0.28 ± 0.02 μM) and RB (IC 50 = 1.42 ± 0.1 μM), the effector proteins of PI3K/mTOR, Ras/Raf/ERK and CDK/RB pathways, respectively.

It induced apoptosis and inhibited cell cycle progression in MDA-MB-231 cancer cells with concomitant inhibition of signalling proteins. Thus, this study reveals that anticancer activity of Ophiobolin A is associated with simultaneous inhibition of multiple oncogenic signalling pathways namely PI3K/mTOR, Ras/Raf/ERK and CDK/RB.