Planta Med 2008; 74 - PB118
DOI: 10.1055/s-0028-1084463

Bioactive sulfated sesterterpene alkaloids from the marine sponge Fasciospongia sp

GM Yao 1, TP Kondratyuk 2, JM Pezzuto 2, LC Chang 2
  • 1Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Minnesota Duluth, Duluth, MN, 55811, USA
  • 2Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Hawaii at Hilo, Hilo, HI, 96720, USA

Recent studies on signal transduction pathways have indicated various promising molecular targets for cancer treatment. Along these lines, a hyphae formation inhibition (HFI) assay [1] in Streptomyces 85E was adopted to rapidly screen and identify protein phosphorylation inhibitors. The organic extract of the marine sponge Fasciospongia sp. was found to significantly inhibit activity in the HFI assay. Bioassay-guided fractionation of this organic extract yielded two new unusual sesterterpene alkaloids (1 and 2), and a new sesterterpene sulfate (3), along with four known compounds. The structures were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic analysis. Compounds 1-7 exhibited significant inhibitory activities in the HFI assay. These compounds were further evaluated in cytotoxicity assays with various cancer cell lines as described previously [2]. The structure elucidation and biological activities of these compounds is presented.

Acknowledgements: This work was supported by UHH Research Starter Grant from College of Pharmacy, and NCI Program Project P01 CA48112. 1. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of British Columbia, Canada. 2. Natural Product Branch, DTP, NCI, USA. 1. Davies, J. 2. Cragg, G., Newman, D., Brown, E.

References: 1. Waters, B. et al. (2002)J. Antibiot. 55:407

2. Mi, Q., et al. (2001) Cancer Res. 61:4030.