Acremocholone, an Anti-Vibrio Steroid from the Marine Mesophotic Zone Ciocalypta Sponge-Associated Fungus Acremonium sp. NBUF150.

Mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs) represent an underexplored source of intriguing natural products. Efforts to discover bioactive metabolites from sponge-associated fungi in MCEs identified a new steroid, acremocholone (1) and its three known analogs (2-4), from Acremonium sp. NBUF150. The Acremonium sp. NBUF150 was isolated from a Ciocalypta sponge located 70 m deep within the South China Sea. The planar structures and absolute configuration of 1-4 were determined from NMR-derived spectroscopic data, HR-ESI-MS, and X-ray crystallography. Compound 1 exhibited antimicrobial inhibition against Vibrio scophthalmi, V. shilonii and V. brasiliensis at minimum inhibitory concentrations of 8 µg/mL; compound 2 inhibited V. shilonii and V. brasiliensis at 8 and 32 µg/mL, respectively, and compound 4 inhibited growth of V. brasiliensis at 16 µg/mL. Sponge associated fungi from MCEs represent a promising resource of anti-Vibrio drug leads for aquaculture use.

Two new illudin type sesquiterpenoids from cultures of Phellinus tuberculosus and Laetiporus sulphureus.

Chemical investigation on the cultures of Phellinus tuberculosus and Laetiporus sulphureus lead to the isolation of two new illudin-type sesquiterpenoids (phellinuin J and sulphureuine A). Their structures were elucidated by 1D, 2D NMR and MS spectroscopic data. These compounds were purposely evaluated for their cytotoxicity against HL-60, SMMC-7721, A549, MCF-7, and SW480 cell lines.

Vitamin D receptor Bsm I polymorphism and osteoporosis risk in postmenopausal women: a meta-analysis from 42 studies.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to quantitatively summarize the evidence for VDR BsmI gene polymorphism and osteoporosis risk in postmenopausal women. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The PubMed, EMBASE, Weipu, CNKI, and Wanfang databases were searched for eligible studies. Case-control studies containing available genotype frequencies of B/b were chosen, and odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to assess the strength of this association. RESULTS: 4485 osteoporosis and 5490 controls were identified in our meta-analysis. In the stratified analysis, a significant association was observed between VDR BsmI gene polymorphism and osteoporosis susceptibility in Caucasians (additive model: OR = 0.809, 95% CI 0.678~0.965, p = 0.019; recessive model: OR = 0.736, 95% CI 0.568~0.955, p = 0.021; and co-dominant model: bb vs. BB OR = 0.701, 95% CI 0.511~0.962 p = 0.028), and we failed to find any significant relationship in Asians. CONCLUSION: The present meta-analysis suggests that VDR BsmI genotype is associated with increased risk of postmenopausal osteoporosis in Caucasians but not in Asians. To draw comprehensive and true conclusions, further prospective studies with larger numbers of participants worldwide are needed to examine associations between VDR BsmI polymorphism and osteoporosis in postmenopausal women.