Pellissier L., Koval A., Marcourt L., Ferreira Queiroz E., Lecoultre N., Leoni S., Quiros-Guerrero L.- M., Barthélémy M., Duivelshof B. L., Guillarme D., Tardy S., Eparvier V., Perron K., Chave J., Stien D., Gindro K., Katanaev V., Wolfender J.- L.
Isolation and identification of isocoumarin derivatives with specific inhibitory activity against Wnt pathway and metabolome characterization of Lasiodiplodia venezuelensis.
Frontiers in Chemistry, 9, (12 August), 2021, 1-22.
The Wnt signaling pathway controls multiple events during embryonic development of
multicellular animals and is carcinogenic when aberrantly activated in adults. Breast
cancers are dependent on Wnt pathway overactivation mostly through dysregulation of
pathway component protein expression, which necessitates the search for therapeutically
relevant compounds targeting them. Highly diverse microorganisms as endophytes
represent an underexplored field in the therapeutic natural products research. In the
present work, the objective was to explore the chemical diversity and presence of selective
Wnt inhibitors within a unique collection of fungi isolated as foliar endophytes from the longlived tropical palm Astrocaryum sciophilum. The fungi were cultured, extracted with ethyl
acetate, and screened for their effects on the Wnt pathway and cell proliferation. The
endophytic strain Lasiodiplodia venezuelensis was prioritized for scaled-up fractionation
based on its selective activity. Application of geometric transfer from analytical HPLC
conditions to semi-preparative scale and use of dry load sample introduction enabled the
isolation of 15 pure compounds in a single step. Among the molecules identified, five are
original natural products described for the first time, and six are new to this species. An
active fraction obtained by semi-preparative HPLC was re-purified by UHPLC-PDA using a
1.7 µm phenyl column. 75 injections of 8 µg were necessary to obtain sufficient amounts of
each compound for structure elucidation and bioassays. Using this original approach, in
addition to the two major compounds, a third minor compound identified as (R)-(-)-5- hydroxymellein (18) was obtained, which was found to be responsible for the significant
Wnt inhibition activity recorded. Further studies of this compound and its structural analogs
showed that only 18 acts in a highly specific manner, with no acute cytotoxicity. This
compound is notably selective for upstream components of the Wnt pathway and is able to
inhibit the proliferation of three triple negative breast cancer cell lines. In addition to the
discovery of Wnt inhibitors of interest, this study contributes to better characterize the
biosynthetic potential of L. venezuelensis.