Potent New Anticancer Agents Target Tumors in New Ways

The search for new anticancer drugs has led scientists to synthesize a compound that works in a different way than existing agents and is so powerful that tiny levels of 10 parts per trillion block the growth of tumor cells in laboratory experiments.

Dr. Kazunori Koide and colleagues from the department of chemistry, University of Pittsburgh (PA, USA; www.pitt.edu) described the compound as one of the most potent of all anticancer agents in a study to be published in the March 7, 2007, issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

The parent compound, FR901464, suppressed the growth of cancer cells implanted into laboratory mice. Because of structural similarity between FR901464 and their analogue, called meayamycin, the investigators are cautiously optimistic that meayamycin also will be effective against tumors in mice. The amount that the researchers utilized against cancer cells is equivalent to 10 seconds in 32,000 years or one packet of sugar (5 g) in a coffee cup the size of 400 Olympic-size pools.

In the article, researchers reported that existing chemotherapy medications work by targeting only a small number of exposed spots in a tumor, such as the DNA or hormone receptors. That limited range of targets has led scientists to seek new generations of drugs that work in different ways.


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