The influence of marine fungal meroterpenoid meroantarctine A toward HaCaT keratinocytes infected with Staphylococcus aureus

A new biological activity was discovered for marine fungal meroterpenoid meroantarctine A with unique 6/5/6/6 polycyclic system. It was found that meroantarctine A can significantly reduce biofilm formation by Staphylococcus aureus with an IC₅₀ of 9.2 µM via inhibition of sortase A activity. Co-cultivation of HaCaT keratinocytes with a S. aureus suspension was used as an in vitro model of skin infection. Treatment of S. aureus-infected HaCaT cells with meroantarctine A at 10 µM caused a reduction in the production of TNF-α, IL-18, NO, and ROS, as well as LDH release and caspase 1 activation in these cells and, finally, recovered the proliferation and migration of HaCaT cells in an in vitro wound healing assay up to the control level. Thus, meroantarctine A is a new promising antibiofilm compound which can effective against S. aureus caused skin infection.