Combretastatin colchicines binding site

Combretastatins are a class of compounds originally derived from the African Willow tree (Combretum caffrum) and are powerful reversible inhibitors of tubulin polymerization. This class of molecules has been shown to bind to the colchicine binding site of tubulin, by the same mode of action as mentioned above (Sect. 1.2). Combretastatins consist of a ris-slilbcnc core structure. To date, there have been several compounds that have shown promise as potential anticancer drugs. However, development of these compounds as anticancer agents is limited by issues of chemical stability, bioavailibilty, toxicity, and solubility. 

In 2000, Macdonald and co-workers reported CoMFA-based 3D-QSAR models able to describe the binding of different structural types of combretastatins to the colchicine binding site [26], The study resulted in the first significantly predictive models for the class of combretastatins. 

A second group of tubulin inhibitors is represented by compounds exhibiting the combretastatin structure. Combretastatin (5) itself, as well as combretastatins A-l (5a), A-4 (5b) and A-2 (5d), have first been extracted from a South African tree Combretum caffrum by Pettit et al., depicting affinity to the colchicine binding site [28], Syntheses of various analogues of this simple molecule, thereafter, have been reported [16,29, 30] (see also Scheme 1). 

The family of colchicines-site binders includes compounds of diverse structure unified by interference with the colchicine binding epitope. The respective compounds can be clustered according to their chemical structure mainly into I) colchicines and compounds with colchicine like substructures, II) combretastatins and phenstatins, III) compounds having an indole core structure, IV) quinolones, V) sulphonamidcs and VI) naturally occurring as well as synthetic compounds. 

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