The growing threat arises due to diseases such as cancer and the infections around the world leading to a critical requirement for novel and constructive compounds with unique ways of action capable of combating these deadly diseases. At present, it is evident that endophytic fungi constitute an enormous as well as comparatively untapped source of great biodiversity that can be considered as a wellspring of effective novel natural products for medical, agricultural and industrial use. Marine endophytic fungi have been found in every marine plants (algae, seagrass, driftwood, mangrove plants), marine vertebrates (mainly, fish) or marine invertebrates (mainly, sponge and coral) inter- and intra-cellular without causing any palpable symptoms of illness. Since evolution of microbes and eukaryotes to a higher level, coevolution has resulted in specific interaction mechanisms. Endophytic fungi are known to influence the life cycle and are necessary for the homeostasis of their eukaryotic hosts and the chemical signals of their host have been shown to activate gene expression in endophytes to induce expression of endophytic secondary metabolites. Marine endophytic fungi are receiving increasing attention by chemists because of their varied and structurally unmatched compounds that have strong biological roles in life as lead pharmaceutical compounds, including anticancer, antiviral, insulin mimetic, antineurodegenerative, antimicrobial, antioxidant and immuno-suppressant compounds. Moreover, fungal endophytes proved to have different biological activities for exploitation in the environmental and agricultural sustainability.

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In this investigation three ancient Egyptian medical plants; Plantago albicans L., Thymelaea hirsuta (L.) Endl. and Urginea maritima (L.) were chosen to explore their biochemical properties, anticancer and antimycotic activities against clinical dermatophytes. Growing of Trichophyton soudanense, Trichophyton erinacei, Microsporum audouinii, Microsporum gypseum, Microsporum gallinae, Microsporum ferrogenium, Microsporum cookie, Microsporum racemosum, Microsporum persicolor and Microsporum canis were totally inhibited by the 100 µg/mL of P. albicans methanolic extract. Whereas the growth of T. soudanense, T. erinacei, Trichophyton rubrum, Trichophyton tonsurance and Trichophyton mentagrophytes and Epidermophyton floccosum were 100% inhibited by the methanolic extract of T. hirsiuta at 100 µg/mL concentration, however its acetone extract was more active against Microsporum species. The highest fungi toxicity against all dermatophytic fungi was detected in both methanol and acetone extract of U. maritima at a concentration ranged between 50 to 100 µg/mL. Methanolic extract of P. albicans inhibited the viability of HCT-116, HepG-2, MCF-7 and HeLa cell lines by (41%, 40%, 80% and 81%); (30%, 20%, 66% and 70%); (19%, 0%, 49% and 57%); (5%, 0%, 35% and 45%) and (0%, 0%, 21% and 40%) at 25, 50, 100, 200 and 300 µg/mL, respectively. Moreover, the cells death after treatment with the same concentrations of T. hirsuta methanol extract were (10%, 20%, 23% and 60%); (16%, 40%, 58% and 80%); (40%, 50%, 80% and 100%); (51%, 65%, 100% and 100%) and (49%, 82%, 100% and 100%) in HCT-116, HepG-2, MCF-7 and HeLa cells, respectively. Viability of HCT-116, MCF-7 and HepG-2 cell lines was totally suppressed with 100 µg/mL whereas the HeLa cell growth was reduced to 10% and totally killed at 100 and 200 µg/mL, respectively of U. maritima methanolic extract. All data approve the significance of Egyptian ethnomedical plants as potent source of diverse bioactive pharmaceutical metabolites.

Ethyl acetate, ethanol, and acetone extracts of the medicinal plants Thymelaea hirsuta L., Urginea maritima L., and Plantago albicans L. (aerial parts) were evaluated for their phytochemical compositions, antimycotic activity against dermatophytes, and antiproliferative activity against different human cancer cell lines. Among them, the ethanolic extracts showed the highest phytochemical contents along with hyperactivities and were then selected for gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy analysis. The Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy analysis confirmed the presence of different characteristic peak values with various functional chemical groups of the active components. However, U. maritima extracts through Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy analysis showed distinctive peaks related to phenolic, amines, amides, aromatic, alkanes, alkyne, cyclopentanone, conjugated aldehyde, nitro, methoxy, uronic acids, aromatic esters, tertiary alcohol or ester, secondary and primary alcohols, aliphatic ether, sulfoxide, vinylidene, and halo compounds. Many bioactive main compounds with reported biological activities were detected by GC/MS (%) in the ethanolic extract of T. hirsuta, U. maritima, and P. albicans. All studied dermatophytes included a diverse set of virulence factors, including phospholipase, protease, keratinase, hemolysis, and melanoid production, all of which play vital roles in dermatophytic infection. Ethanolic extract of P. albicans inhibited the growth of Trichophyton soudanense totally and Trichophyton erinacei in addition to all Microsporum species. In contrast, the ethanolic extract of Trichophyton hirsuta at concentrations of 25 g/mL totally prevented the growth of all Trichophyton species. EtOH extract of U. maritima completely prevented the growth (100% inhibition) of all dermatophytic strains under study at the lowest concentration of 12.5 μg/mL. Scanning electron microscope analysis revealed considerable morphological modifications and structural alterations in dermatophyte species exposed to ethanolic extract of these plants. The viability of HCT-116, HepG-2, MCF-7, and HeLa cell lines was reduced after treatment with the ethanolic extracts of T. hirsuta, U. maritima, and P. albicans individually with IC50 values (10.0, 9.97, 48.5, and 56.24 μg/mL), (26.98, 25.0, 17.11, and 9.52 μg/mL), and (9.32, 7.46, 12.50, and 16.32 μg/mL), respectively. Our work revealed the significance of these traditional ethnomedical plants as potent sources for biologically active pharmaceuticals with potential applicability for the treatment of fungal and cancer diseases.