Bioactive Sesterterpenoids From The Fungus Penicillium Roqueforti Yj-14

Seven previously undescribed sesterterpenes were characterized from Penicillium roqueforti YJ-14 by solid fermentation. Their structures were initially investigated in detail by spectroscopic analyses and HR-ESI-MS and were further confirmed by X-crystallography. In in vitro bioassays, compounds 1, 5 and 7 showed cytotoxic activity against the MCF-7 breast cancer cell line with IC50 values of 7.98 +/- 0.93, 6.42 +/- 0.41 and 7.32 +/- 0.18 mu M, respectively. Compounds 5 and 7 displayed significant cytotoxicity against the A549 lung cancer cell line (IC50 values of 4.83 +/- 0.22 mu M and 4.58 +/- 0.85 mu M, respectively). In addition, compound 5 showed an obvious inhibitory effect on nitric oxide production in LPS-activated RAW264.7 macrophages with an IC50 value of 9.53 +/- 0.16 mu M.