5,10b-Ethanophenanthridine amaryllidaceae alkaloids inspire the discovery of novel bicyclic ring systems with activity against drug resistant cancer cells.

Abstract

Plants of the Amaryllidaceae family produce a large variety of alkaloids and non-basic secondary metabolites, many of which are investigated for their promising anticancer activities. Of these, crinine-type alkaloids based on the 5,10b-ethanophenanthridine ring system were recently shown to be effective at inhibiting proliferation of cancer cells resistant to various pro-apoptotic stimuli and representing tumors with dismal prognoses refractory to current chemotherapy, such as glioma, melanoma, non-small-cell lung, esophageal, head and neck cancers, among others. Using this discovery as a starting point and taking advantage of a concise biomimetic route to the crinine skeleton, a collection of crinine analogues were synthetically prepared and evaluated against cancer cells. The compounds exhibited single-digit micromolar activities and retained this activity in a variety of drug-resistant cancer cell cultures. This investigation resulted in the discovery of new bicyclic ring systems with significant potential in the development of effective clinical cancer drugs capable of overcoming cancer chemotherapy resistance.

• Authors: Sean Henry, Ria Kidner, Mary R Reisenauer, Igor V Magedov, Robert Kiss, Véronique Mathieu, Florence Lefranc, Ramesh Dasari, Antonio Evidente, Xiaojie Yu, Xiuye Ma, Alexander Pertsemlidis, Regina Cencic, Jerry Pelletier, David A Cavazos, Andrew J Brenner, Alexander V Aksenov, Snezna Rogelj, Alexander Kornienko, Liliya V Frolova
• Journal: European journal of medicinal chemistry (Eur J Med Chem) Vol. 120 Pg. 313-28 (Sep 14 2016) ISSN: 1768-3254 [Electronic] France
• PMID: 27218860 (Publication Type: Journal Article)
• Copyright: Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Chemical References

• Amaryllidaceae Alkaloids
• Antineoplastic Agents
• Plant Extracts
• crinine

Topics

• Amaryllidaceae (chemistry, immunology)
• Amaryllidaceae Alkaloids (chemistry, pharmacology)
• Antineoplastic Agents (chemistry, pharmacology)
• Drug Resistance, Neoplasm (drug effects)
• Humans
• Plant Extracts (pharmacology)
• Tumor Cells, Cultured