Cyclopentenone-Containing Tetrahydroquinoline and Geldanamycin Alkaloids from Streptomyces malaysiensis as Potential Anti-Androgens against Prostate Cancer Cells.

Malaymycin (1), a new cyclopentenone-containing tetrahydroquinoline alkaloid, and mccrearamycin E (2), a geldanamycin analogue bearing a rare ring-contracted cyclopentenone moiety, and a C2-symmetric macrodiolide (7) were isolated from Streptomyces malaysiensis SCSIO41397. Their structures including absolute configurations were determined by detailed analyses of NMR and HRMS data and ECD calculations. The occurrence of mccrearamycin E (2) bearing a ring-contracted cyclopentenone is rare in the geldanamycin class. All isolated compounds were evaluated for their cytotoxicities against five cancer cell lines. As a result, compounds 1, 4, 5, and 7 showed cytotoxicity against some or all of the five cancer cell lines with IC50 values ranging from 0.067 to 7.2 μM. In particular, compound 1 inhibited the growth of C42B and H446 cell lines with IC50 values of 67 and 70 nM, respectively. Malaymycin (1) significantly induced cell cycle arrest at the G0/G1 phase in C42B cell lines and caused cell shrinkage and inhibited the expression of the androgen receptor (AR) at both the mRNA and protein levels in a dose-dependent manner. Further examination by qRT-PCR analysis showed that 1 strongly suppressed the expression of AR target genes KLK2 and KLK3 in the C42B and 22RV1 cell lines, which suggested that 1 might be a promising potential lead compound for the development of a treatment for the castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC).