Medicine antitumor agents

Messori, L, Abbate, F., Marcon, G., Orioli, P., Fontani, M., Mini, E., Mazzei, T., Carotti, S., O Connell, T. and Zanello, P. (2000) Gold(lll) complexes as potential antitumor agents solution chemistry and cytotoxic properties of some selected gold(III) compounds. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 43, 3541. 

Shen, B., Liu, W. and Nonaka, K. (2003) Enediyne natural products biosynthesis and prospect towards engineering novel antitumor agents. Current Medicinal Chemistry, 10, 2317. 

Inorganic or metal-containing medicinal compounds may contain either (a) chemical elements essential to life forms—iron salts used in the treatment of anemia—or (b) nonessential/toxic elements that carry out specific medicinal purposes—platinum-containing compounds as antitumor agents or technetium... 

The disclosure of the HDLP crystal structure in 1999 provided a clear framework and starting point for medicinal chemists for the further development of HDAC inhibitors as antitumor agents. It confirmed the suggested general structural requirements of such inhibitors. These proposed requirements and the resemblance of the inhibitors to the acetylated e-amino groups of lysine residues are shown in Fig. 5. 

Transition-metal based compounds constitute a discrete class of chemotherapeutics, widely used in medicine as antitumor agents.56 Several ruthenium complexes enable the body to catalyze oxidation and reduction reactions, depending on the physiological environment, and have attracted much interest as alternative antitumor drugs in the treatment of cancer cells resistant to cisplatin in cancer... 

The actinomycins, which are also produced by Streptomyces, not only kill bacteria but also are among the most potent antitumor agents known.b However, because of their extreme toxicity they are of little medicinal value. Actinomycin D, which is a specific inhibitor of RNA polymerase, contains a planar phenoxazone chromophore bearing two carboxyl groups, each one linked to an identical cyclic peptide made up of L-threonine, D-valine, L-proline, sarcosine (N-methylglycine), and L-methylvaline. 

Tang W, Hemm I, Bertram B. Recent development of antitumor agents from Chinese herbal medicines Part I. Low molecular compounds. Planta Med. 2003 69 97-108. 

There are many medical conditions for which a root cause is unknown and one has to focus on treating peripheral manifestations (e.g., treating inflammation in arthritis with antiinflammatory drugs). Even when a root cause is known, it may be difficult to treat if the problem is localized to a particular area of the body the medication may not only affect the problem area ir. the body but have side effects on other regions—for example, the side effects of antitumor agents on normal cells. When the toot cause is outside the body, e.g., smoking as a cause of lung cancer, elimination of the root cause can be both feasible and clinically effective. Hence, the importance of Preventive Medicine as an important influence on the hierarchical schema. 

For recent fluorinated nucleosides reviews, see (a) Meng, W-D. and Qing F-L. (2006) Fluori-nated nucleosides as antiviral and antitumor agents. Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry, 6, 1499-1528 (b) Qing, F-L. and Qiu, X-L. (2007) Synthesis of gem-difluoromethylated sugar nucleosides. In Current Fluoroorganic Chemistry, ACS Symposium Series 949, pp. 305-322 and references cited therein. 

Metallic elements used in medicine include lithium for treating manic depressive illness, platinum complexes such as c/.s-platin (2), which act as antitumor agents by combining with DNA and inhibiting cell division, and gold compounds used to treat arthritis. 

In a blow to natural-products chemistry in the U.S., the Board of Scientific Counselors, Division of Cancer Treatment, National Cancer Institute, voted on October 2, 1981, to abolish the NCI research contract program concerned with the development of antitumor agents from plants. I fear this signals the end of significant government-sponsored research in the U.S. on medicinal plants, leaving the research to the pharmaceutical firms, who have shown relative disinterest in plant products. 

Phosphorus-containing sugar analogues have possible medicinal application in the treatment of obesity and diabetes, and also in the formulation of antiviral, antibiotic and antitumor agents (Section 6.25.5.2.1.ii) <94JOC2976>. 

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