halichondrin-b and dolastatin-10

Marine antitumor drugs have been the research focus in the world. Recently, advancement has been made in the investigation of six types of compounds including bryostatin-1, ecteinascidin-743, dolastatin, didemnin B, psammaplin and halichondrin B. In this review, we summarized the recent research progress of the above mentioned marine antitumor drugs and their derivatives. Also, the development tendency of marine antitumor drugs was discussed.

Topics: Animals; Antineoplastic Agents; Apoptosis; Biological Products; Bryostatins; Cell Line, Tumor; Depsipeptides; Dioxoles; Disulfides; Ethers, Cyclic; Humans; Macrolides; Marine Biology; Neoplasms; Tetrahydroisoquinolines; Trabectedin; Tyrosine

This paper summarizes published data on the interactions of tubulin with antimitotic compounds that inhibit the binding of vinca alkaloids to the protein. These are all relatively complex natural products isolated from higher plants, fungi and marine invertebrate animals. These agents are maytansine, rhizoxin, phomopsin A, dolastatins 10 and 15 and halichondrin B and their congeners. Effects on tubulin polymerization, ligand binding interactions and structure-activity relationships are emphasized.

Topics: Animals; Antibiotics, Antineoplastic; Antineoplastic Agents; Depsipeptides; Ethers, Cyclic; Lactones; Macrolides; Maytansine; Mycotoxins; Oligopeptides; Tubulin; Vinca Alkaloids

A highly cytotoxic macrocyclic lactone polyether has been isolated from a Spongia species and named spongistatin 1. With L1210 murine leukemia cells an IC50 value for cell proliferation of 20 pM was obtained, and an increase in the mitotic index concordant with the decrease in cell number was observed. Kangaroo rat kidney PtK1 cells were examined by indirect immunofluorescence with a spongistatin 1 concentration that caused 50% reduction in cellular protein (0.3 nM) and with a 10-fold higher concentration. These cells displayed mitotic and nuclear aberrations at both concentrations, and intracellular microtubules were reduced in number at the lower concentration and disappeared at the higher. Similar changes in PtK1 cells were observed after treatment with equivalent toxic concentrations of the antimitotic agents colchicine, vinblastine, halichondrin B, and dolastatin 10. Spongistatin 1 inhibited the glutamate-induced polymerization of purified tubulin (IC50 value of 3.6 microM versus 2.1 microM for dolastatin 10 and vinblastine and 5.2 microM for halichondrin B). Spongistatin 1 had no effect on the binding of colchicine to tubulin, but it was a potent inhibitor of the binding of vinblastine and GTP to tubulin. In initial experiments with 5 microM tubulin and 5 microM vinblastine, spongistatin 1 and dolastatin 10 both had IC50 values of 2 microM, whereas halichondrin B had an IC50 value of 5 microM. Spongistatin 1 thus represents a new member of the group of complex natural products that inhibit mitosis by binding in the Vinca alkaloid domain of tubulin.

Topics: Animals; Antineoplastic Agents; Cell Division; Depsipeptides; Ethers, Cyclic; Guanosine Triphosphate; Lactones; Leukemia L1210; Macrolides; Marine Toxins; Mice; Microtubules; Mitosis; Oligopeptides; Porifera; Tubulin; Vinblastine

Data generated in the new National Cancer Institute drug evaluation program, which is based on inhibition of cell growth in 60 human tumor cell lines, were used to compare new compounds with agents of known mechanism of action in terms of their differential cytotoxicity. Two marine natural products, halichondrin B and homohalichondrin B, appeared repeatedly when the data base was probed with known antimitotic agents. We confirmed that both compounds were highly cytotoxic (IC50 values for L1210 murine leukemia cells of 0.3 and 1 nM, respectively), with accumulation of cells arrested in mitosis at toxic concentrations, that both inhibited the polymerization of purified tubulin, and that both inhibited microtubule assembly dependent on microtubule-associated proteins. Limited amounts of homohalichondrin B, the less active agent, were available, so only halichondrin B was studied in detail. Halichondrin B did not interfere with colchicine binding to tubulin, but it was a noncompetitive inhibitor of the binding of vinblastine to tubulin (apparent Ki, 5.0 microM). Halichondrin B was therefore compared with other agents which interfere with the binding of vinca alkaloids to tubulin (vinblastine, maytansine, dolastatin 10, phomopsin A, rhizoxin) in terms of its effects on tubulin polymerization, inhibition of GTP hydrolysis, inhibition of nucleotide exchange, and stabilization of tubulin, as well as the quantitative assessment of its effects on vinca alkaloid binding and inhibition of cell growth. Since halichondrin B was originally isolated from the same organism as the phosphatase inhibitor okadaic acid, and since it is about 50-fold more effective than okadaic acid as an inhibitor of L1210 cell growth, perturbations of cellular microtubules observed following treatment with okadaic acid should be interpreted cautiously.

Topics: Animals; Antineoplastic Agents; Colchicine; Depsipeptides; Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor; Ethers, Cyclic; Guanosine Triphosphate; Hydrolysis; Leukemia L1210; Macrolides; Maytansine; Microtubules; Mitosis; Oligopeptides; Polymers; Porifera; Tubulin; Vinblastine