Natural products with antitumor activity from endophytic fungi.

Endophytic fungi are a seemingly inexhaustible source of novel bioactive natural products. Currently, more than 140 fungal metabolites have shown confirmed activity in tumor cell line bioassays. We present the chemical structures of these antitumor metabolites, their corresponding fungal endophytes and host plants, and the activities they exhibited, and briefly discuss some of their action mechanisms. This review emphasizes the role of endophytic fungi as an important source of leads for drug discoveries.