Anti-cancer Activity of Fungal Metabolite

In a paper just out in Phytomedicine, HG Kim and coworkers describe the in vitro anti-cancer activity of Beauvericin, an antimicrobial metabolite from the fungus Beauveria bassiana. Beauvericin inhibited cell viability in C6 glioma, U251, MDA-MB-231, HeLa, HCT-15 and LoVo cancer cell lines. C6 glioma cells underwent dose-dependent caspase-3 and -9 activation followed by membrane blebbing and apoptosis. Beauvericin was shown to interrupt actin polymerization and actin-actin interaction.