Fusarium tricinctum, An Endophytic Fungus Exhibits Cell Growth Inhibition and Antioxidant Activity.

An endophytic fungus (strain T6) isolated from Taxus baccata was studied for its effect on the growth of human breast cancer cell line (MCF-7), human cervical cancer cell line (HeLa) and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) as well as for its antioxidant activity. Based on morphological characters and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequence analysis, this fungus (strain T6) was identified as Fusarium tricinctum. This fungus has shown inhibition in the growth of the MCF-7 and HeLa cancer cell lines. IC50 values of the fungal extract were 225 ± 26 and 220 ± 18 μg ml-1 for MCF-7 and HeLa cell lines, respectively. Further, F. tricinctum showed inhibition in the proliferation of concanavalin A stimulated PBMCs indicating its immunosuppressive potential (IC50 value 110 ± 44 μg ml-1). Tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α production in concanavalin A stimulated PBMCs and MCF-7 were found to be inhibited which indicates that the antiproliferative effect may be associated with TNF-α. Free radical scavenging results revealed that this fungus also exhibited antioxidant activity (IC50 value 482 ± 9 μg ml-1). Present study results suggested that F. tricinctum has the potential to be used for therapeutic purposes because of its antiproliferative and antioxidant potential.