Cytotoxicities of enniatins H, I, and MK1688 from Fusarium oxysporum KFCC 11363P

Enniatins (ENs) H, I, and MK1688 and beauvericin (BEA) were purified from concentrated chloroform extracts of Fusarium oxysporum KFCC 11363P submerged cultures using HPLC, and their in vitro cytotoxicities were evaluated against four human carcinoma cell lines (lung, A549; ovarian, SK-OV-3; skin melanoma, SK-MEL-2; and colon, HCT15) using the sulforhodamine B (SRB) method. ENs I and MK1688 inhibited the growth of cancer cell lines most strongly and had similar cytotoxic effects on the tested human cancer cell cultures. The cytotoxicity of ENs I and MK1688 was three- to fourfold higher than that of BEA and EN H. When cultivated in Fusarium-defined medium (FDM), the concentrations of ENs and BEA produced in F. oxysporum KFCC 11363P decreased in the following order: EN MK1688 (0.81 g/L) >EN I (0.55 g/L) >BEA (0.17 g/L) > EN H (0.16 g/L). This study has shown that ENs H, I, and MK1688 exhibit cytotoxicity against certain adenocarcinoma cell lines. The results indicate the need for more investigations into the significance of the biological properties of these new ENs.