Antitumor activity mechanism

Gallo RC, Whang-Peng J, Adamson RH. Studies on the antitumor activity, mechanism of action, and cell cycle effects of camptothecin. J Natl Cancer Inst 1971 46 789-795. 

Cytokines, eg, interferons, interleukins, tumor necrosis factor (TNF), and certain growth factors, could have antitumor activity directiy, or may modulate cellular mechanisms of antitumor activity (2). Cytokines may be used to influence the proliferation and differentiation of T-ceUs, B-ceUs, macrophage—monocyte, myeloid, or other hematopoietic cells. Alternatively, the induction of interferon release may represent an important approach for synthetic—medicinal chemistry, to search for effective antiinflammatory and antifibrotic agents. Inducers of interferon release may also be useful for lepromatous leprosy and chronic granulomatous disease. The potential cytokine and cytokine-related therapeutic approaches to treatment of disease are summarized in Table 4. A combination of cytokines is a feasible modaUty for treatment of immunologically related diseases however, there are dangers inherent in such an approach, as shown by the induction of lethal disserninated intravascular coagulation in mice adrninistered TNF-a and IFN-y. 

The antitumor activity of geldanamycin and its derivatives appears to result from inhibition of DNA synthesis whereas RNA synthesis is not affected (261). The antitumor activity of the maytansinoids also appears to result from the inhibition of DNA synthesis. The mechanism of action of maytansine (104) has been hypothesized to be the acid catalyzed loss of water from the C-9 hydroxyl group of the carbinolamide to form a reactive acyl imine intermediate, which reacts rapidly with nucleophiles on the bases of DNA (262). 

I. H. Goldberg, in C. Chagas and B. Pullman, eds.. Molecular Mechanisms of Carcinogenic and Antitumor Activity, The Vatican Press distributed by Adenine Press, Guildedand, N.Y., 1987, p. 425. 

The novel agent sulofenur (69) has entered clinical trials based on its broad spectmm antitumor activity in tumor models, its unusual mechanism of action, and its lack of cross-resistance to other agents (33). In Phase I clinical trials, the dmg was well tolerated and some clinical responses were noted. 

The antitumor activity displayed by the mitosanes and many synthetic aziridines stems from their ability to act as alkylating agents which chemically modify (crosslink) DNA. For this reason, a large number have been screened for antitumor activity, the mechanism of which has been the subject of considerable research effort <75CJC289l). An excellent account of the broad spectrum of biological properties of a multitude of compounds containing the aziridinyl moiety has been published [Pg.93]

Topo II inhibition remains the most per suasive mechanism to explain the antitumor activity of anthracyclines accordingly, limited clinical studies showed that tumor... 

McKeage, M.J., Maharaj, L. and Berners-Price, S.J. (2002) Mechanisms of cytotoxicity and antitumor activity of gold(I) phosphine complexes the possible role of mitochondria. Coordination Chemistry Reviews, 232, 127—135. 

Alkylation reactions by the iminium methide species are well known in the mitomycin and mitosene literature 4,49,51-53 and are largely responsible for the cytotoxicity/antitumor activity of these compounds. As illustrated in Scheme 7.8, the electron-rich hydroquinone intermediate can also be attacked by the iminium ion resulting in either head-to-head or head-to-tail coupling. The head-to-head coupling illustrated in Scheme 7.8 is followed by a loss of formaldehyde to afford the coupled hydroquinone species that oxidizes to the head-to-head dimer upon aerobic workup. Analogous dimerization processes have been documented in the indole literature, 54-56 while the head-to-tail mechanism is unreported. In order to... 

Interferon-a2b has diverse mechanisms of action, including antiviral activity, impact on cellular metabolism and differentiation, and antitumor activity.42 The antitumor activity is due to a combination of direct antiproliferative effect on tumor cells and indirect immune-mediated effects.42 Interferon-a2b is currently approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as adjuvant therapy for patients who are free of disease after curative surgical resection but are at high risk of MM recurrence. This includes patients with bulky disease or regional lymph node involvement such as stage IIB, IIC, or III disease.43 It is controversial if interferon-a2b (IFN) should be offered as adjuvant therapy for every high-risk MM patient. The reason is because clinical trials with different doses of IFN have not proved definitively that IFN improves overall patient survival. 

Further experiments focused therefore on [RuCl(en)(r 6-tha)]+ (12) and [RuCl(rj6-p-cym)(en)]+ (22), which represent the two different classes, and their conformational distortion of short oligonucleotide duplexes. Chemical probes demonstrated that the induced distortion extended over at least seven base pairs for [RuCl(rj6-p-cym)(en)]+ (22), whereas the distortion was less extensive for [RuCl(en)(rj6-tha)]+ (12). Isothermal titration calorimetry also showed that the thermodynamic destabilization of the duplex was more pronounced for [RuCl(r 6-p-cym)(en)]+ (22) (89). DNA polymerization was markedly more strongly inhibited by the monofunctional Ru(II) adducts than by monofunctional Pt(II) compounds. The lack of recognition of the DNA monofunctional adducts by HMGB1, an interaction that shields cisplatin-DNA adducts from repair, points to a different mechanism of antitumor activity for the ruthenium-arenes. DNA repair activity by a repair-proficient HeLa cell-free extract (CFE) showed a considerably lower level of damage-induced DNA repair synthesis (about six times) for [RuCl(en)(rj6-tha)] + compared to cisplatin. This enhanced persistence of the adduct is consistent with the higher cytotoxicity of this compound (89). 

Colquhoun and Schumacher [98] have shown that y-linolcnic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid, which inhibit Walker tumor growth in vivo, decreased proliferation and apoptotic index in these cells. Development of apoptosis was characterized by the enhancement of the formation of reactive oxygen species and products of lipid peroxidation and was accompanied by a decrease in the activities of mitochondrial complexes I, III, and IV, and the release of cytochrome c and caspase 3-like activation of DNA fragmentation. Earlier, a similar apoptotic mechanism of antitumor activity has been shown for the flavonoid quercetin [99], Kamp et al. [100] suggested that the asbestos-induced apoptosis in alveolar epithelial cells was mediated by iron-derived oxygen species, although authors did not hypothesize about the nature of these species (hydroxyl radicals, hydrogen peroxide, or iron complexes ). 

The advantage of these complexes is that each Pt complex is isolated in pure form, and the crystal structure is known. Based on 1H-and 195Pt-NMR spectroscopy, the antitumor active compounds were found to be disrupted as shown in Fig. 20, giving finally [Pt(NH3)2(H20)2]2+, which is the same hydrolysis product as ds-DDP and is responsible for the activity. Therefore, the subsequent reaction with DNA bases and the mechanism would be the same with those of cis-DDP. The antitumor inactive compounds are relatively stable and are disrupted only to dinuclear amidate-bridged compounds. No further decomposition to [Pt(NH3)2(H20)2]2+ occurs. 

A nucleophilic attack on the acetylenic ketone functionality of golfomycin A (184) was proposed as a potential pathway to form the benzannulated enyne-allene 185 (Scheme 20.38) [71]. Subsequent biradical formation has been postulated as a possible mechanism to account for its DNA-cleaving properties and antitumor activity. 

R. G. Harvey, The Molecular Mechanism of Carcinogenesis of Polycyclic Hydrocarbons , in Molecular Mechanisms of Carcinogenicity and Antitumor Activity , Eds. C. Chagas, B. Pullman, Pontifica Academia Scientiarum, The Vatican, and Adenine Press, Schenectady, NY, 1987, p. 95 - 129. 

Lucas L., Hemandez-Alcoceba, R., Penalva, V., and Lacal, J.C., 2001, Modulation of phosphohpase D by hexadecylphosphorylchohne a putative novel mechanism for its antitumoral activity. Oncogene 20 1110-1117... 

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