Norlichexanthone has the potential to treat and/or prevent lifestyle-related diseases such as type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease. Norlichexanthone has antibacterial and antimalarial activity, it has strong activity against Bacillus subtilis with an IC50 range of 1- 5uM, and also has strong inhibitory effect on the growth of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus with an IC50 of 20.95±1.56 uM.

The butanol extract of a fungus P16 culture extract possessed such an activity, and isolated Norlichexanthone as an active compound through activity-guided fractionation. Oil red O staining showed that Norlichexanthone induced adipogenesis in ST-13 cells. Its differentiation-inducing activity was supported by the observation that Norlichexanthone dose-dependently increased the mRNA expression of fatty acid-binding protein and peroxisome proliferator activated receptor γ (PPARγ), markers of adipocyte differentiation. Western blot analysis demonstrated that the compound enhanced the secretion of adiponectin protein in a dose-dependent manner. An increase in mRNA expression of adiponectin was also observed in the Norlichexanthone-treated ST-13 cells. Actinomycin D treatment blocked the enhancement of adiponectin mRNA expression by Norlichexanthone, suggesting that it is the result of increased transcription. A luciferase reporter assay indicated that Norlichexanthone was unlikely to be an agonist of PPARγ, implying that its action of mechanism might differ from those of thiazolidinediones which upregulate adiponectin expression via activation of PPARγ.