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 language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 453-463 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry |
Volume | 125 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2017 |
Keywords
- Anticancer
- Antiproliferative
- Combretastatin A-4
- Microtubule-destabilising
- Piperlongumine
- Tubulin