Hiroyuki Yamazaki

Verruculides A and B, two new protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B inhibitors from an Indonesian ascidian-derived Penicillium verruculosum.

Two new merosesquiterpenes, verruculides A (1) and B (2), were isolated from a culture broth of the Indonesian ascidian-derived Penicillium verruculosum TPU1311, together with three known congeners, chrodrimanins A (3), B (4), and H (5). The structures of 1 and 2 were assigned on the basis of their spectroscopic data (1D and 2D NMR, HRMS, UV, CD, and IR). Compound 2 had a linear sesquiterpene moiety and was considered to be the derivative of the biosynthetic precursor for 1 and 3-5. Compounds 1, 3, and 5 inhibited the activity of protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) with IC50 values of 8.4, 8.5, and 14.9 μM, respectively. Compound 2 showed 40% inhibition at 23.1 μM, while 4 was not active at 20.7 μM.

Structures and Biological Evaluations of Agelasines Isolated from the Okinawan Marine Sponge Agelas nakamurai.

Three new N-methyladenine-containing diterpenes, 2-oxoagelasines A (1) and F (2) and 10-hydro-9-hydroxyagelasine F (3), were isolated from the Okinawan marine sponge Agelas nakamurai Hoshino together with eight known agelasine derivatives, 2-oxoagelasine B (4), agelasines A (5), B (6), D (7), E (8), F (9), and G (10), and ageline B (11). The structures of 1-3 were assigned on the basis of their spectroscopic data and their comparison with those of the literature. Compounds 3 and 5-11 inhibited the growth of Mycobacterium smegmatis with inhibition zones of 10, 14, 15, 18, 14, 20, 12, and 12 mm at 20 μg/disc, respectively. All compounds were inactive (IC50 > 10 μM) against Huh-7 (hepatoma) and EJ-1 (bladder carcinoma) human cancer cell lines. Three 2-oxo derivatives (1, 2, and 4) exhibited markedly reduced biological activity against M. smegmatis. Moreover, compound 10 inhibited protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) activity with an IC50 value of 15 μM.

Euryspongins A-C, three new unique sesquiterpenes from a marine sponge Euryspongia sp.

Three new unique sesquiterpenes, euryspongins A-C (1-3), were isolated from a marine sponge Euryspongia sp. collected at Iriomote Island, Okinawa, Japan. Compound 1 possessed a bicyclic furanosesquiterpene structure with six- and eight-membered rings, whereas compounds 2 and 3 had an α,β-unsaturated-γ-lactone ring instead of the furan ring in 1. Only five natural products in this class have been reported, and compounds 1-3 are the sixth-eighth examples of natural products. Compounds 1-3 had no inhibition effect against PTP1B, an important target enzyme for the treatment of diabetes, while the dehydro derivative of 1 [dehydroeuryspongin A (4)] exhibited inhibitory activity (IC(50)=3.6 μM).

Two new protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B inhibitors, hyattellactones A and B, from the Indonesian marine sponge Hyattella sp.

Two unique sesterterpenes, hyattellactones A (1) and B (2), together with two known sesterterpenes, phyllofolactones F (3) and G (4), were isolated from the Indonesian marine sponge Hyattella sp. The structures of the two new compounds, 1 and 2 were assigned based on their spectroscopic data. Hyattellactone A (1) was a scalarane sesterterpene with an α,β-unsaturated-γ-lactone ring and C-ethyl group, while B (2) was an epimer of 1 at the C-24 position. Compounds 1 and 3 inhibited PTP1B activity with IC50 values of 7.45 and 7.47μM, respectively. On the other hand, compounds 2 and 4 (24S-isomers of 1 and 3, respectively) showed much reduced activity than the 24R-isomers.

Strongylophorines, new protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B inhibitors, from the marine sponge Strongylophora strongilata collected at Iriomote Island.

A new meroditerpene, 26-O-ethylstrongylophorine-14 (1), was isolated from the Okinawan marine sponge Strongylophora strongilata together with six known strongylophorines: 26-O-methylstrongylophorine-16 (2) and strongylophorines-2 (3), -3 (4), -8 (5), -15 (6), and -17 (7). The structure of 1 was assigned on the basis of its spectroscopic data. Compound 1 inhibited the activity of protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) with an IC50 value of 8.7 μM, while known compounds 2-8 gave IC50 values of 8.5, >24.4, 9.0, 21.2, 11.9, and 14.8 μM, respectively. Oleanolic acid, a positive control, inhibited PTP1B activity at 0.7 μM (IC50). The inhibitory activities of strongylophorines possessing the acetal moiety at C-26 (1, 2, and 6) were stronger than those of the lactone derivatives (3 and 5). This is the first study to demonstrate that meroditerpenes inhibit PTP1B activity.

Induced Production of Halogenated Epidithiodiketopiperazines by a Marine-Derived Trichoderma cf. brevicompactum with Sodium Halides.

Marine-derived Trichoderma sp. TPU199 (cf. T. brevicompactum) produced gliovirin (1), pretrichodermamide A (2), and trichodermamide A (3) in a freshwater medium. Compounds 1 and 2 are rare epidithiodiketopiperazines possessing an unusual disulfide linkage. In the seawater medium, the strain biosynthesized the 5-chloro-5-deoxy derivatives (4 and 5) of 3 and 2. The production of 5 was proportional to the concentration of seawater (NaCl). Therefore, 5-bromo-5-deoxy (6) and 5-deoxy-5-iodo (7) derivatives were biosynthesized in the freshwater media supplemented with NaBr and NaI, respectively. The structure of a new iodo derivative (7) was elucidated on the basis of its spectroscopic data.

Papuamine and haliclonadiamine, obtained from an Indonesian sponge Haliclona sp., inhibited cell proliferation of human cancer cell lines

The extract of an Indonesian marine sponge Haliclona sp. showed potent cytotoxicity against human solid cancer cell lines, MCF-7 (breast), LNCap (prostate), Caco-2 (colon) and HCT-15 (colon) cells. Study on nuclear morphological changes and flow cytometric analysis suggested that the component(s) in the extract would induce an apoptosis to these cancer cells. Bioassay-guided isolation yielded two pentacyclic alkaloids, papuamine (1) and haliclonadiamine (2), which inhibited cell proliferation of six human cancer cell lines with IC50 values of 0.93–1.50 and 1.00–4.44 µM, respectively. Compounds 1 and 2 accumulated lymphoma U937 cells at sub-G1 phase and induced a condensation of chromatin and fragmentation of nucleus.

New isochaetochromin, an inhibitor of triacylglycerol synthesis in mammalian cells, produced by Penicillium sp. FKI-4942: I. Taxonomy, fermentation, isolation and biological properties

A new bis-naphtho-γ-pyrone isomer named isochaetochromin A1 was isolated along with known isochaetochromins B1 and B2 from the culture broth of Penicillium sp. FKI-4942 by solvent extraction, silica gel column chromatography and HPLC. Among them, isochaetochromin B1 showed the most potent inhibitory activity of triacylglycerol synthesis with an IC50 value of 5.6 μM, followed by isochaetochromins B2 (IC50, 11 μM) and A1 (33 μM).

Trichoketides A and B, two new protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B inhibitors from the marine-derived fungus Trichoderma sp.

Two new octaketides, trichoketides A (1) and B (2), were isolated from a culture broth of the seawater-derived fungus Trichoderma sp. TPU1237 together with two known analogs, trichodermaketones C (3) and D (4), by ODS column chromatography followed by preparative ODS and chiral HPLC. The structures of 1 and 2 were elucidated on the basis of their spectroscopic data, and absolute configurations were assigned by comparing their experimental electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectra with the calculated ECD spectra. Compounds 1 and 2 were epimers at the C-8 position (α-position of dihydrofuran ring). The IC50 values of compounds 1–4 against protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B were 53.1, 65.1, 68.0 and 55.9 μM, respectively.

Absolute structures and bioactivities of euryspongins and eurydiene obtained from the marine sponge Euryspongia sp. collected at Iriomote Island.

Three unique sesquiterpenes, named euryspongins A-C (1-3), have been isolated from the marine sponge Euryspongia sp. The absolute configuration of 1 was assigned as (4R,6R,9S) by comparing its experimental Electronic Circular Dichroism (ECD) spectrum with the calculated ECD spectra of both enantiomers, and the absolute configurations of 2, 3 and artifact 4 were suggested on the basis of that of 1 by assuming common biogenesis of 1-3. These absolute configurations were opposite to those depicted in the previous communication. Further separation of the remaining fractions lead to the isolation of a new C11-polyketide, named as eurydiene (5), together with a known C11-polyketide, nakitriol (6). The structure of 5 was assigned on the basis of its spectroscopic data as a bicyclic alcohol with a diene side chain. Dehydroeuryspongin A (4) inhibited protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B), an important target enzyme for the treatment of type II diabetes and obesity, with an IC50 value of 3.58μM. Moreover, compound 4 did not inhibit the proliferation of human hepatoma Huh-7 cells at 100μM. One of the locations in which PTP1B has been detected is hepatocytes. Compounds 1-3, 5, and 6 were not active against PTP1B. The growth of human colon (HCT-15) and T-cell lymphoma (Jurkat) cells was not disturbed by compounds 1-6.