Antitumor extrolites produced by Penicillium species

Biodiversity is increasingly exploited worldwide for the finding of new pharmaceuticals. In relation to a competitive aptitude developed in many and diverse environments, microorganisms are able to produce secondary metabolites with cytotoxic and antiproliferative properties that are valuable in the perspective of antitumor drug discovery. Particularly, fungal species in the genus Penicillium represent a prolific source of biologically active extrolites that in some cases have already disclosed possible relevance for an application in cancer chemotherapy. Antiproliferative, pro-apoptotic, anti-angiogenic, anti-metastatic, DNA synthesis and cell cycle inhibitory properties of these compounds are reviewed in the present paper. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________