Antiproliferative p-terphenyl derivatives isolated from the fungus Sarcodon scabripes

Abstract

The ethanol extract of the fungus Sarcodon scabripes collected from north-central British Columbia, Canada, showed strong antiproliferative activity. Bioassay-guided purification using liquid-liquid extraction and Sephadex LH-20 size-exclusion chromatography, followed by HPLC-MS and 1D/2D NMR analyses, led to the isolation of five known compounds; four p-terphenyl (1-4) derivatives and one phenolic aldehyde (5). Compounds 1, 4, and 5 were isolated for the first time from the Sarcodon genus. The cytotoxicity MTT assay showed that compounds 1-5 have antiproliferative activity against human cervical cancer cells (HeLa). For compounds 1-4, this is the first report of their antiproliferative activity against cancer cells. For compound 2, this is the first report on its bioactivity. To our knowledge, this is the first description of the isolation of bioactive constituents from S. scabripes.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Sarcodon scabripes
• p-terphenyl
• antiproliferative
• mushroom

Acknowledgments

We thank Ms. Linda Tackaberry and Dr. Hugues Massicotte for collecting S. scabripes (CL124).

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by an NSERC Discovery Grant (227158), a Canada Foundation for Innovation Grant (34711), and a BC Knowledge Development Fund (103970) to C.H.L.