Two novel hepatocellular carcinoma cycle inhibitory cyclodepsipeptides from a hydrothermal vent crab-associated fungus Aspergillus clavatus C2WU.

Two novel cyclodepsipeptides containing an unusual anthranilic acid dimer and a D-phenyllactic acid residues, clavatustides A and B, were identified from cultured mycelia and broth of Aspergillus clavatus C2WU isolated from Xenograpsus testudinatus, which lives at extreme, toxic habitat around the sulphur-rich hydrothermal vents in Taiwan Kueishantao. This is the first example of cyclopeptides containing an anthranilic acid dimer in natural products, and the first report of microbial secondary metabolites from the hydrothermal vent crab. Clavatustides A and B suppressed the proliferation of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell lines (HepG2, SMMC-7721 and Bel-7402) in a dose-dependent manner, and induced an accumulation of HepG2 cells in G1 phase and reduction of cells in S phase.