Marine seaweed endophytic fungi-derived active metabolites promote reactive oxygen species-induced cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in human breast cancer cells

Endophytic fungi have an abundant sources rich source of rich bioactive molecules with pivotal pharmacological properties. Several studies have found that endophytic fungi-derived bioactive secondary metabolites have antiproliferative, anti-oxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties, but the molecular mechanism by which they induce cell cycle arrest and apoptosis pathways is unknown. This study aimed to determine the molecular mechanism underlying the anticancer property of the endophytic fungi derived active secondary metabolites on human breast cancer cells. In this study, we identified four endophytic fungi from marine seaweeds and partially screened its phytochemical properties by Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. Moreover, the molecular mechanism underlying the anticancer property of these active secondary metabolites (FA, FB, FC and FE) on human breast cancer cells were examined on MCF-7 cells by TT assay, Apoptotic assay by Acridine orang/Ethidium Bromide (Dual Staining), DNA Fragmentation by DAPI Staining, reactive oxygen species (ROS) determination by DCFH-DA assay, Cell cycle analysis was conducted Flow cytometry and the apoptotic signalling pathway was evaluated by westernblot analysis. Doxorubicin was used as a positive control drug for this experiment. The GC-MS analysis of ethyl acetate extract of endophytic fungi from the marine macro-algae revealed the different functional groups and bioactive secondary metabolites. From the library, we observed the FC (76