englerin-b and Carcinoma--Renal-Cell

Englerin A is a structurally unique natural product reported to selectively inhibit growth of renal cell carcinoma cell lines. A large scale phenotypic cell profiling experiment (CLiP) of englerin A on ¬over 500 well characterized cancer cell lines showed that englerin A inhibits growth of a subset of tumor cell lines from many lineages, not just renal cell carcinomas. Expression of the TRPC4 cation channel was the cell line feature that best correlated with sensitivity to englerin A, suggesting the hypothesis that TRPC4 is the efficacy target for englerin A. Genetic experiments demonstrate that TRPC4 expression is both necessary and sufficient for englerin A induced growth inhibition. Englerin A induces calcium influx and membrane depolarization in cells expressing high levels of TRPC4 or its close ortholog TRPC5. Electrophysiology experiments confirmed that englerin A is a TRPC4 agonist. Both the englerin A induced current and the englerin A induced growth inhibition can be blocked by the TRPC4/C5 inhibitor ML204. These experiments confirm that activation of TRPC4/C5 channels inhibits tumor cell line proliferation and confirms the TRPC4 target hypothesis generated by the cell line profiling. In selectivity assays englerin A weakly inhibits TRPA1, TRPV3/V4, and TRPM8 which suggests that englerin A may bind a common feature of TRP ion channels. In vivo experiments show that englerin A is lethal in rodents near doses needed to activate the TRPC4 channel. This toxicity suggests that englerin A itself is probably unsuitable for further drug development. However, since englerin A can be synthesized in the laboratory, it may be a useful chemical starting point to identify novel modulators of other TRP family channels.

Topics: Animals; Antineoplastic Agents; Carcinoma, Renal Cell; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell Proliferation; HEK293 Cells; Humans; Indoles; Kidney Neoplasms; Mice; Mice, Nude; Piperidines; Rats; RNA Interference; RNA, Small Interfering; Sesquiterpenes, Guaiane; Transfection; TRPC Cation Channels

The concise collective total synthesis of englerin A and B, orientalol E and F, and oxyphyllol has been accomplished in 10-15 steps, with the total synthesis of orientalol E and oxyphyllol being achieved for the first time. The success obtained was enabled by the realization of the [4+3] cycloaddition reaction of 9 and 10. Other features of the synthesis include 1) the intramolecular Heck reaction to access the azulene core, 2) the epoxidation-S(N)2' reduction sequence to access the allylic alcohol, 3) the efficient regioselective and stereoselective formal hydration of the bridging C=C bond in the synthesis of englerins, and 4) the late-stage chemo- and stereoselective C-H oxidation in the synthesis of orientalol E. The total synthesis of these natural products has enabled the structural revision of oxyphyllol and established the absolute stereochemical features of the organocatalytic [4+3] cycloaddition reaction. The identification of 5 as the natural product oxyphyllol, the success in converting 5 to orientalol E, along with the fact that englerins and oxyphyllol were isolated from plants of the same genus Phyllanthus gives support to our proposed biosynthetic pathways. This work may enable detailed biological evaluations of these natural products and their analogues and derivatives, especially of their potential in the fight against renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

Topics: Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic; Biological Products; Carcinoma, Renal Cell; Catalysis; Cyclization; Cycloaddition Reaction; Oxidation-Reduction; Sesquiterpenes, Guaiane; Stereoisomerism