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Spatiotemporal Subcellular Manipulation of the Microtubule Cytoskeleton in the Living Preimplantation Mouse Embryo using Photostatins
Published on: November 30, 2021
Spongistatins as tubulin targeting agents
1Drug Discovery Program and Parker Hughes Cancer Center, Parker Hughes Institute, St. Paul, MN 55113, USA.
Abstract:
Recently identified novel agents that disrupt tubulin polymerization include synthetic spiroketal pyrans (SPIKET) targeting the spongistatin binding site of b-tubulin. These agents exhibit anticancer activity by disrupting normal mitotic spindle assembly and cell division as well as inducing apoptosis. At nanomolar concentrations, the SPIKET compound SPIKET-P caused tubulin depolymerization in cell-free turbidity assays and exhibited potent cytotoxic activity against cancer cells as evidenced by destruction of microtubule organization, and prevention of mitotic spindle formation in human breast cancer cells. SPIKET compounds represent a new class of tubulin targeting agents that show promise as anti-cancer drugs.
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