Cytotoxic and immunomodulatory phenol derivatives from a marine sponge-derived fungus sp. VK12.

Chemical investigation of the marine-derived endophytic fungus sp. VK12 resulted in isolation and identification of a new compound, (3)-(3',5'-dihydroxyphenyl)butan-2-one () and five known ones: AGI-7 (), sescandelin (), sescandelin-B (), 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde (), and hydroxysydonic acid (). The absolute configuration of was determined by time-dependent density functional theory electronic circular dichroism, specific optical rotation, and NMR calculations. Compounds and showed cytotoxicity towards HepG2, MCF-7, and SK-Mel2 carcinoma cells, with IC values ranging from 48.6 to 96.5 µM. Compounds , , displayed NO inhibitory effects in LPS-stimulated BV2 cells, with IC values in a range from 24.2 to 76.5 µM. Compound further inhibited PGE overproduction, with an IC value of 25.3 µM. The inhibitory effects of towards NO and PGE overproduction were found to have a close relationship with its suppression of iNOS and COX-2 protein expression, respectively.