China camptotheca

Isolated in low yield (0.005%) from the bark and stem wood of Camptotheca acuminata Decaisne (family Nyssaceae) native to China [248-250], and sub-... 

Camptothecin (CPT, 1) is a natural compound isolated for the first time [1] from the wood of Camptotheca acuminata Decne (Nyssaceae), a deciduous plant (xi shu, happy tree) of Southeastern China, but produced also by the Indian Icacinacea Nothapodytes foetida (Wight) Sleumer (formerly Mappia foetida Miers) [2], and by some other plants [3], the two former being the major sources of the compound. 

Camptothecin (CPT, Cl) is a potent antitumor pentacyclic alkaloid isolated from Camptotheca acuminata Decne. (Nyssaceae family) and originating in China (36, 37). Interest in CPT was sparked by the discovery that its primary cellular target is DNA topo I (38). 10-Hydroxycamptothecin (C2), which also occurs naturally, has a better therapeutic index and is used in China for treating many cancers. 

Camptothecin (43) was first isolated by Monroe Wall and Mansukh Wani in 1966, after ethanolic extracts of Camptotheca acuminata, a tree native to China, showed unusual and potent antitumor activity (63). Starting with 19 kg of dried wood and bark. Wall and Wani painstakingly purified the principal active component with a combination of hot solvent extraction, an 11-stage Craig countercurrent partition process, silica gel chromatography, and crystallization. Camptothecin was characterized as a novel pentacyclicalkaloid, present as j ust 0.01 % w/w of the stem bark of C ax umi-... 

Camptothecin is one of the bioactive components isolated from the fruits and leaves of Camptotheca acuminata Decne in China. Also camptothecin has anti-cancer effects.2 7-Ethyl- 10-hydroxycamptothecin (EHC), a camptothecin derivative, has stronger anti-cancer effects and weaker side-effects than camptothecin,3 however, its interaction mechanism with protein is poorly understood. 

The initial source plant of camptothecin, Camptotheca acuminata, is a rare species found in southern regions of the People s Republic of China. Today, camptothecin is produced commercially not only from cultivated C. acuminata trees in mainland China but also from the roots of Nothapodytes nimmoniana (formerly known as both N. foetida and Mappia foetida), which is found in the southern regions of the Indian subcontinent (69). Interestingly, these two antineoplastic agents are particularly important both because of the clinical effectiveness of their derivatives as cancer chemotherapeutic agents and because they are prominent lead... 

Camptotheca acuminata (Nyssaceae) is a tree that grows throughout the southern part of China. From its stem wood, camptothecin has been obtained (160). Camp-tothecin is notable because of its remarkable antitumor and antileukemia activity. The other minor camptothecin analogues that have been obtained are 10-methoxy-camptothecin (161), and 20-deoxycamptothecin (1). 11-Hydroxycamptothecin and 11-methoxycamptothecin have been obtained from the fruit (68, 98). 

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