Natural products antitumor activity

Based on these considerations, there is substantial merit associated with an approach that relies on selective cytotoxicity. Paradoxically, however, all of the well-known natural product antitumor agents that are currently utilized in clinical settings do not demonstrate selective cytotoxicity (2). Rather, it is typical to observe a general cytotoxic response with absolutely no cell-type specificity. Since it is not practical to assign a high priority to a plant extract based solely on non-specific cytotoxic activity, it is necessary to devise a broader-based bioassay-directed drug discovery program. 

A.n log ue Synthesis. Two notable examples, in which analogues have greater therapeutic indexes than the parent dmgs, have been identified in Phase I trials. These are carboplatin (29) and ado2elesin (37) (35). Carboplatin s approval was based on its comparable efficacy to cis-platinum (28) and its more favorable toxicity profile, ie, reduced and delayed episodes of emesis, reduced ototoxicity, etc. On the other hand, ado2elesin, a totally synthetic analogue of natural product CC1065, has demonstrated a similar potency and antitumor activity profile as its natural prototype but is devoid of the delayed death UabiUty associated with the parent dmg in animals (36). 

Myers has discovered a related reaction of the natural product neocarzinostatine 8 (simplified structure). As in the case of the Bergman cyclization a diradical intermediate is generated by a chemical activation step taking place at the reaction site, where it then can cleave DNA. Because of this feature, together with its discriminating affinity towards different DNA strands, neocarzinostatine is regarded as a potential antitumor agent. 

Bryostatins are another class of compounds that bind to the Cl domain and result in acute activation of PKC. However, unlike phorbol esters, these marine natural products have antitumor effects. Bryostatins are currently in phase II clinical trials and show promise as anticancer drugs, particularly when combined with other adjuvant therapy. 

Polypropionate chains with alternating methyl and hydroxy substituents are structural elements of many natural products with a broad spectrum of biological activities (e.g. antibiotic, antitumor). The anti-anti stereotriad is symmetric but is the most elusive one. Harada and Oku described the synthesis and the chemical desymmetrization of meso-polypropionates [152]. More recently, the problem of enantiotopic group differentiation was solved by enzymatic transesterification. The synthesis of the acid moiety of the marine polypropionate dolabriferol (Figure 6.58a) and the elaboration of the C(19)-C(27) segment of the antibiotic rifamycin S (Figure 6.58b) involved desymmetrization of meso-polypropionates [153,154]. 

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 dicytodendrins A-E (Fig. 9) are one of the most recent 3,4-diarylpyrrole natural products to be reported [64], Their isolation by Fusetani and coworkers from a Japanese marine sponge was reported in 2003. These substances (144-148) have been shown to inhibit telomerase at a concentration of 50 pg/mL thereby making such compounds potentially useful as antitumor agents given that telomerase activity is found in 90% of cancer cells but... 

Since tryptophan (and its decarboxylation product, tryptamine) serve as precursors in many synthetic and biosynthetic routes to /J-carbolincs, it is not surprising that C-1 of the /J-carbolinc ring is the most common site of substitution (as it is the only ring atom of the /J-carbolinc ring system not derived from tryptophan). Indeed, this is the only site of substitution for many /J-carboline natural products. Two examples of naturally occurring /J-carbolines substituted only at C-1 which possess antitumor activity are manzamine A and manzamine C (Fig. 2). Owing to its greater simplicity and nearly equal antitumor activity, most initial synthetic efforts were directed toward manzamine C [11,12]. 

Although a-carbolines (in particular, 2-amino-a-carboline) are perhaps better known as mutagens [89], some a-carbolines have been found to possess antitumor properties. For example, there has been much interest in the synthesis of natural products grossularine-1 133 and grossularine-2 134 (Fig. 38) since the report of their activity as antitumor agents at the 10 ng/mL level [90]. 

Since natural product cryptolepine hydrochloride 173 (Fig. 48) has been found to be cytotoxic to B16 melanoma cells with an IC50 of 0.3 pg/mL (1.3 pM) [102], there has also been interest in cationic 5-carboline-based compounds as antitumor agents. For example, Wright and coworkers synthesized a series of these compounds and evaluated their activity against MAC 15 cells (murine adenocarcinomas of the colon) [103]. Of the compounds prepared, the most active was 179 which had an IC50 value of 1.03 pM. 

The presence of 9-diazofluorene groups in kinamycin antitumor natural products would lead one to think of an active role for the diazo group. The hypothesis may be substantiated by the fact that one of the precursors in kinamycin biosynthesis, kinafluorenone 10 [44], which lacks the diazo moiety, shows no antibiotic activity against B. subtilis ATCC 6633, known to be very sensitive to the kinamycins. However, prekinamycin (9) [49], which is similar to kinafluorenone but retains the diazo group, shows activity to-... 

The isolation of diazobenzo[fr ]fluorenes as stable antitumor natural products raises several questions about their mode of action. The inability to cleave DNA by diazotization of 9-aminofluorene may imply that if the diazo functionality is involved in the mode of interaction of kinamycins with DNA, its conversion to diazonium and the ensuing reduction may seem to be of negligible importance. An additional possibility, which will be discussed later, is that 9-diazofluorene may not be the ideal model for these natural products. In exploring DNA cleavage as a possible route to the kinamycins role as a stable antitumor agent, which may supplement their speculative and as yet unconfirmed role as alkylating molecules [67], this early model seemed to suggest that the well-established activation of diazonium may not be relevant. 

Several novel natural products with an intriguing system containing the cis-endiyne moiety have attracted considerable attention from chemists in recent years. Several derivatives with this characteristic skeleton have now been isolated neocarzinostatin,96 esperamicin,97 calicheamicin y. 9S and dynemicin Ai." The high antitumor activity of these compounds is based on an elegant... 

The facile conversion of carbonyl groups into lactones via cyclobutanones offers many opportunities for synthetic applications considering the importance of butanol-ides in natural products synthesis. The iridoids vividly illustrate this potential. Allamandin (163) 135 c) and its dehydrated relative plumericin (164) 135 d), compounds possessing antifungal, antibacterial, and antitumor activity, pack a great deal of... 

A furanose-fused c/.,(3-unsaturated 8-lactone was also prepared from ester 11 as a key chiral intermediate for the synthesis of the enantiomer of (+ )altholactone, a natural product with cytotoxic and antitumor activities.18 A Reformatsky reaction with ethylbromoacetate or a Wittig... 

The isolation of the antitumor agents vincaleukoblastine (1) and leuro-cristine (2) from Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don has proved to be one of the most important developments in both natural product chemistry and the clinical treatment of cancer during the 1960s to 1980s. More alkaloids (over 90) have been isolated from C. roseus than from any other plant, and because of the complexity of the alkaloid mixture this work has required the most advanced isolation and structure determination techniques. The exceptional interest in the broad spectrum of antitumor activity of these compounds has resulted in numerous achievements in the pharmaceutical, clinical pharmacologic, and therapeutical sciences. Simultaneously, strenuous efforts have been made in three areas of the natural product chemistry (i) elaboration of a practical semisynthesis of... 

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