This study aimed to isolate secondary metabolites produced by the endophytic fungus Xylaria sp. derived from Andrographis paniculata and to evaluate their cytotoxic potential using in vitro and in silico methods. The fungus was cultivated on rice medium for three weeks, extracted with ethyl acetate, and purified by chromatographic techniques, yielding two compounds identified as 19,20-epoxycytochalasin C (1) and ergosterol (2) based on NMR and FT-IR analyses. Both compounds exhibited cytotoxicity against MCF-7 breast cancer cells, with IC50 values of 38.4 and 45.7 μM, respectively. Molecular docking against the HER2 protein supported the in vitro results, showing binding free energies of -8.023 and -7.310 kcal/mol for compounds 1 and 2, respectively. These findings suggest that both metabolites possess significant anticancer potential, particularly as candidate anticancer compounds against MCF-7 cancer cells. Notably, this is the first report of the chemical characterisation of Xylaria sp. associated with A. paniculata.
Riga et al. (Fri,) studied this question.