Proteins interaction with alkaloids

The cause of the cell cycle specificity of the bisindole alkaloids may be associated with the ability of these compounds to interact with the protein tubulin and thereby inhibit the polymerization (and depolymerization) of microtubules (16,17). In this respect the cellular pharmacology of vinca alkaloids is similar to that of other cytotoxic natural products such as colchicine or podophyllotoxin. On closer inspection, however, Wilson determined that the specific binding site on tubulin occupied by vinblastine or vincristine is chemically distinct from the site occupied by the other natural products (18). Subsequent experiments have determined that the maytansinoids, a class of ansa-macrocycles structurally distinct from the bisindoles, may bind to tubulin at an adjacent (or overlapping) site (19). A partial correlation of the antimitotic activity of these compounds with their tubulin binding properties has been made, but discrepancies in cellular uptake probably preclude any quantitative relationship of these effects (20). 

Quinine is the principal alkaloid derived from the bark of the cinchona tree. It has been used for malaria suppression for over 300 years. By 1959 it was superseded by other drugs, especially chloroquine. After widespread resistance to chloroquine became manifest quinine again became an important antimalarial. Its main uses are for the oral treatment of chloroquine-resistant falciparum malaria and for parenteral treatment of severe attacks of falciparum malaria. Quinine is a blood schizonticide with some gametocytocidal activity. It has no exoerythrocytic activity. Its mechanism of action is not well understood. It can interact with DNA, inhibiting strand separation and ultimately protein synthesis. Resistance of quinine has been increasing in South-East Asia. 

Ellipticine inhibits DNA, RNA and protein synthesis. The inhibition is not reversible by removal of the alkaloid. It has no appreciable effects on thymidine and uridine kinases or on RNA polymerase, but it markedly inhibits DNA polymerase activity [240, 241]. The actual mechanism of action of ellipticine and related compounds has not yet been elucidated. Ellipticine and derivatives have been found to interact with bacterial membranes [242]. Many investigators have categorized these compounds as DNA-interacting or intercalating agents [230, 235, 237,243-246]. It has recently been postulated that mammalian DNA topoisomerase II may be a common target of these antitumour compounds [247],... 

Narciclasine (215) is an antitumor agent which exerts an antimitotic effect during metaphase by immediately terminating protein synthesis in eukaryotic cells at the step of peptide bond formation (97,101,141,142), apparently by interaction with the ansiomycin area of the ribosomal peptidyl transferase center (142). The alkaloid has also been found to inhibit HeLa cell growth and to stabilize HeLa cell polysomes in vivo (97). Although DNA synthesis was retarded by narciclasine, RNA synthesis was practically unaffected (97,142). Sev-... 

A number of assays were established in our laboratory to determine the interaction of alkaloids with DNA and related enzymes, with biomembranes, protein biosynthesis, and neuroreceptors. These assays were all optimized and standardized in terms of linearity, reproducibility, sensitivity and specificity.19,35,57... 

Whereas many secondary metabolites interact with multiple targets, and thus have unspecific broad (pleiotropic) activities, others, especially alkaloids, are more specific and interact exclusively with a single particular target. Secondary metabolites with broad and nonspecific activities interact mainly with proteins, biomembranes, and DNA/RNA which are present in all organisms. 

Ribosomal protein biosynthesis is often inhibited by alkaloids that interact with nucleic acids [23]. There are also more specific inhibitors, such as emetine. 

Catharanthus alkaloids, particularly vinblastine (Al) and vincristine (A2), are well known anticancer drugs, which are used clinically to treat Hodgkin s lymphoma and acute childhood lymphoblastic leukemia, respectively. These alkaloids interact with tubulin, a protein necessary for cell division, and are inhibitors of mitosis (the process of cell division). 

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