Cytotoxic Potential and Molecular Characterization of Fungal Endophytes from Selected High Value Medicinal Plants of the Kashmir Valley - India.

The present study explores the fungal endophytes from selected high value medicinal plants to check their activities at in-vitro and in-vivo level. The in-vitro cytotoxicity of selected endophytes revealed potent growth inhibition against human cancer cell lines of leukemia (THP-1), lung (A549), prostate (PC-3), colon (Caco-2), neuroblastoma (IMR-32) and breast (MCF-7) at a concentration of 100 µg/ml. Among them the endophytic strains I. e., IIIM2, IIIM3, IIIM7 and IIIM8 showed most significant growth inhibition against colon (Caco-2), prostate (PC-3), lung (A549) and leukemia (THP-1) cancer cell lines. At the in-vivo level maximum (58.95%) tumor growth inhibition was documented with the extract of IIIM2 against Ehrlich Ascites Carcinoma mouse modal. All the potent fungal endophytic strains were characterized using ITS 4 and ITS 5 region sequencing and phylogenetic analysis was ascertained among them. This paper confirms the 2 elite endophytic fungal strains, IIIM2 and IIIM8, have the potential to act as a source of new anticancer compounds.
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