Isolation and purifications of an ambuic acid derivative compound from marine algal endophytic fungi Talaromyces flavus that induces apoptosis in MDA-MB-231 cancer cells

In recent years, there has been a lot of buzz about the possibilities of marine microflora as a source of new therapeutic drugs. The strong anti-tumor potency of compounds found in marine resources reflects the ocean's enormous potential as a source of anticancer therapeutics. In this present investigation, an ambuic acid derivative anticancer compound was isolated from Talaromyces flavus, and its cytotoxicity and apoptosis induction potential were analyzed. T. flavus was identified through morphological and molecular analysis. The various organic solvent extracts of T. flavus grown on different growth mediums were evaluated for cytotoxicity on different cancer cell lines. The potent cytotoxicity was shown in the ethyl acetate extract of a fungal culture grown in the M1-D medium for 21 days. Furthermore, the anticancer compound was identified using preparative thin layer chromatography, followed by its purification in significant proportions using column chromatography. The spectroscopic and chromatographic analysis revealed that the structure of the purified molecules was an ambuic acid derivative. The ambuic acid derivative compound showed potent cytotoxicity on MDA-MB-231 (breast cancer cells) with an IC₅₀ value of 26 μM and induced apoptosis in the MDA-MB-231 cells in a time-dependent and reactive oxygen species-independent manner.