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Cancer is one of the most important causes of death worldwide. Solid tumors represent the vast majority of cancers (>90%), and the chemotherapeutic agents used for their treatment are still characterized by variable efficacy and toxicity. Sesquiterpenes are a group of natural compounds that have shown a wide range of biological activities, including cytotoxic and antiparasitic activity, among others. The antiproliferative activity of natural sesquiterpenes, tessaric acid, ilicic acid, and ilicic alcohol and their semisynthetic derivatives against HeLa, T-47D, WiDr, A549, HBL-100, and SW1573 cell lines were evaluated. The effect of the compounds on Trypanosoma cruzi epimastigotes was also assessed. The selectivity index was calculated using murine splenocytes. Derivatives 13 and 15 were the most antiproliferative compounds, with GI50 values ranging between 5.3 (±0.32) and 14 (±0.90) μM, in all cell lines tested. The presence of 1,2,3-triazole groups in derivatives 15–19 led to improvements in activity compared to those corresponding to the starting natural product (3), with GI50 values ranging between 12 (±1.5) and 17 (±1.1) μM and 16 being the most active compound. In relation to the anti-T. cruzi activity, derivatives 7 and 16 obtained from tessaric acid and ilicic acid were among the most active and selective compounds with IC50 values of 9.3 and 8.8 µM (SI = 8.0 and 9.4), respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cancer is one of the most important causes of death worldwide. Solid tumors represent the great majority of cancers (>90%) and the chemotherapeutic agents used for their treatment are still characterized by variable efficacy and toxicity. Sesquiterpene lactones are a group of naturally occurring compounds that have displayed a diverse range of biological activities including cytotoxic activity. A series of oxygenated and oxy-nitrogenated derivatives (4–15) from the sesquiterpene lactones cumanin (1), helenalin (2), and hymenin (3) were synthesized. The silylated derivatives of helenalin, compounds 13 and 14, were found to be the most active against tumor cell lines, with GI50 values ranging from 0.15 to 0.59 μM. The ditriazolyl cumanin derivative (11) proved to be more active and selective than cumanin in the tested breast, cervix, lung, and colon tumor cell lines. This compound was the least toxic against splenocytes (CC50 = 524.1 µM) and exhibited the greatest selectivity on tumor cell lines. This compound showed a GI50 of 2.3 µM and a SI of 227.9 on WiDr human colon tumor cell lines. Thus, compound 11 can be considered for further studies and is a candidate for the development of new antitumor agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several natural and synthetic coumarins were assayed against different cancer cell lines. Four of them have shown cytotoxicity against a panel of three human solid tumor cell lines (HeLa, T-47D, and WiDr) and a clearly activity/hydrophobicity relationship. Compound 13 proved to be the most active product in all cell lines tested, with values of 8.0 (±0.38) μM against HeLa cells and also able to inhibit Taq DNA polymerase. This dual activity of 13 makes it a candidate to be considered as a "lead" compound in the search for novel antitumor drugs.

In this study, we synthesized a series of phenylpropanoic acid derivatives based on modifications at four selected points of the molecular scaffold. The in vitro antiproliferative activities of the compounds were examined in representative human solid tumor cell lines. A SAR was established pointing out the relevance of the substituents. The best activity profiles were obtained for the derivatives bearing more lipophilic esters (GI50 3.1-21 microM).