Four sulfur-containing compounds with anti-colon cancer effect from marine-derived fungus Aspergillus terreus

Sulfur -containing natural products possess a variety of biological functions including antitumor, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and antiviral activities. In this study, four previously undescribed sulfur -containing compounds asperteretals L and M, terreins A and B, together with 17 known compounds were obtained from a culture of marine fungus A. terreus supplemented with inorganic sulfur source Na 2 SO 4 . Their planar structures and absolute configurations were elucidated by NMR, HRESIMS, and ECD experiments. The in vitro cytotoxicities of compounds 1 - 21 against HCT-116 and Caco-2 were evaluated by SRB assay. Asperteretal M ( 2 ) exhibited activity against HCT-116 with the IC 50 value at 30 mu M. The antiproliferative effect of asperteretal M was confirmed by colony formation assay and cell death staining. Furthermore, the preliminary study on the anti -colon cancer mechanism of asperteretal M was performed by RNA-seq analysis. Western blotting validated that asperteretal M significantly decreased the expression of cell -cycle regulatory proteins CDK1, CDK4, and PCNA in a concentration -dependent manner.