Context
Ircinia mutans
Wilson (Irciniidae) is a sponge with antimicrobial and cytotoxic constituents.
Objective
Our objective was to characterise the cytotoxic constituents of two seasonal collections of
I. mutans
.
Materials and methods
The sponges were extracted in methanol-dichloromethane and their constituents were purified and characterised using column chromatography, GC-MS, 1 D and 2 D NMR. Anti-proliferative activities of the compounds, were evaluated using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) colorimetric assay (0.25–100 μg/mL, 72 h) against leukaemia (MOLT-4), breast (MCF-7) and colon cancer (HT-29) human cells.
Results
Three furanosesquiterpoids; furodysin (
1
),
ent
-furodysinin (
2
) and furoircin (
3
) and ten sterols were characterised in
I. mutans
, for the first time. Cholesterol (
4
), cholesta-5, 7-dien-3β-ol (
5
) and ergosterol (
6
) were determined in the sponge from the winter collections, while cholesta-5, 22-dien-3β-ol (
7
), 24-methyldesmosterol (
8
), campesterol (
9
), stigmasterol (
10
), γ-ergostenol (
11
), chondrillasterol (
12
) and γ-sitosterol (
13
) were detected in the summer samples. The steroids from the winter collection exhibited cytotoxic activity with IC
50
values of 13.0 ± 0.9, 11.1 ± 1.7 and 1.1 ± 0.4 µg/mL, against the mentioned cancer cell lines, respectively, while those from the summer sample, showed greater activity, IC
50
= 1.1 ± 0.2 μg/mL against MOLT-4. The purified steroids showed potent MOLT-4 cytotoxic activity, IC
50
values = 2.3–7.8 µg/mL.
Discussion and conclusion
The present study suggests that
I. mutans
is a rich source of cytotoxic steroids, and introduces
3
as new natural product. Considering the high cytotoxic activity of the steroids, these structures could be candidates for anticancer drug development in future research.