Piperlongumine (piplartine) and analogues: Antiproliferative microtubule-destabilising agents

Mary J. Meegan, Seema Nathwani, Brendan Twamley, Daniela M. Zisterer, Niamh M. O'Boyle

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    Piperlongumine (piplartine, 1) is a small molecule alkaloid that is receiving intense interest due to its antiproliferative and anticancer activities. We investigated the effects of 1 on tubulin and microtubules. Using both an isolated tubulin assay, and a combination of sedimentation and western blotting, we demonstrated that 1 is a tubulin-destabilising agent. This result was confirmed by immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy, which showed that microtubules in MCF-7 breast cancer cells were depolymerized when treated with 1. We synthesised a number of analogues of 1 to explore structure-activity relationships. Compound 13 had the best cytotoxic profile of this series, showing potent effects in human breast carcinoma MCF-7 cells whilst being relatively non-toxic to non-tumorigenic MCF-10a cells. These compounds will be further developed as potential clinical candidates for the treatment of breast cancer.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)453-463
    Number of pages11
    JournalEuropean Journal of Medicinal Chemistry
    Volume125
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2017

    Keywords

    • Anticancer
    • Antiproliferative
    • Combretastatin A-4
    • Microtubule-destabilising
    • Piperlongumine
    • Tubulin

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Piperlongumine (piplartine) and analogues: Antiproliferative microtubule-destabilising agents'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this