Bioprospecting for antagonistic Penicillium strains as a resource of new antitumor compounds

Abstract

Microorganisms are increasingly exploited as a source of new pharmaceuticals. Soil fungi are particularly promising to this regard since their biocenotic competitiveness is often based on the production of antibiotics and other inhibitory substances. About 15 Penicillium strains possessing some extent of antifungal ability were evaluated as a possible source of antitumor products based on the antiproliferative and pro-apoptotic effects of their culture extracts on human tumor cell lines. About 12 strains showed some extent of antitumor properties that in several cases corresponded to the effect of the extrolites purified from the culture extracts themselves. The study showed that a quick screening of fungal isolates can be operated by assaying their fungal extracts on tumor cells directly, with the ensuing advantage of restricting the work required for the characterization of the bioactive compounds to a reduced number of promising strains. © 2007 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.