S Dallavalle, T Delsoldato, A Ferrari, L Merlini, S Penco, N Carenini, P Perego, M De Cesare, G Pratesi, F Zunino
Dipartimento di Scienze Molecolari Agroalimentari, Sezione di Chimica, Università di Milano, Via Celoria 2, 20133 Milano, Italy.
Journal of medicinal chemistry 2000 Oct 19The natural alkaloid camptothecin is the lead compound of a new class of antitumor agents with a unique mechanism of action (i.e. inhibition of DNA topoisomerase I). The pharmacological interest of these agents has generated a large number of derivatives and analogues endowed with potent cytotoxic activity, two of them being in clinical use as antitumor drugs. We have synthesized a new series of camptothecins substituted in position 7 with an alkyl or alkenyl chain bearing cyano and/or carbethoxy groups. These compounds showed potent cytotoxic activity in vitro against the human non-small-cell lung carcinoma H460 cell line, most of them exhibiting IC(50) values in the 0.05-1 microM range, more active than topotecan used as a reference compound. In particular 7-cyano-20S-camptothecin (5a) showed high in vitro cytotoxicity against a topotecan-resistant H460 cell subline (H460/TPT) and a cisplatin-resistant ovarian carcinoma subline (IGROV-1/Pt 1). In an in vivo evaluation of the antitumor activity, 5a appeared significantly more effective than topotecan in the H460 tumor model and comparable with topotecan in a small-cell lung carcinoma model and a colon carcinoma model. The efficacy and good tolerability of this compound increase interest for further preclinical development.
S Dallavalle, T Delsoldato, A Ferrari, L Merlini, S Penco, N Carenini, P Perego, M De Cesare, G Pratesi, F Zunino. Novel 7-substituted camptothecins with potent antitumor activity. Journal of medicinal chemistry. 2000 Oct 19;43(21):3963-9
PMID: 11052801
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