Bioactive Sterol Derivatives Isolated from the Pleurotus djamor var. Roseus Induced Apoptosis in Cancer Cell Lines

Objective: The aim of the present study is to isolate and characterize the bioactive compounds responsible for cytotoxic activity against human breast cancer (MDA-MD-231) and mouse T cell lymphoma (EL4) cell lines.

Materials and methods: Sequential fractionization and column chromatography methods were involved in the compound isolation. The structures of the isolated compound were determined by NMR, GC/MS and X-ray crystallography studies.

Results: The isolated compounds 1- 4 [D-mannitol (C1), Ergosta-5,7,22-trien-3β-ol (C2), 5,8-Epidioxy-ergosta-6-22-dien-3β-ol (C3) and palmitic acid (C4)] are white crystal and amorphous powder in nature. All these compounds were isolated from this mushroom for the first time. In vitro lipid peroxidation activities of isolated compounds were determined by ferric thiocyanate (FTC) and thiobarbituric acid (TBA) method. The sterol derivatives C2 and C3 compounds displayed strong antioxidant activity and was not significantly different (p<0.05) to α-tocopherol. This finding elaborates the isolation of a cytotoxic compound C2 and C3 from P. djamor var. roseus via a rapid elution method.

Conclusion: The compound C3 has exhibited better cytotoxic activity against MDA-MD-231(human breast cancer) and EL4 (mouse T cell lymphoma) cells. The present finding and data might provide new insights into the possible therapeutic and pharmaceutical uses for the design of anti-cancer drugs from this edible mushroom.

Keywords: Breast cancer; Lipid peroxidation; Lymphoma; Mushroom; Pleurotus; sterol.