Alkaloids from marine invertebrates as important leads for anticancer drugs discovery and development
Concetta Imperatore1, Anna Aiello2, Filomena D'Aniello3
1The NeaNat Group, Department of Pharmacy, University of Naples "Federico II", Via D. Montesano 49, Napoli 80131, Italy. cimperat@unina.it.
Abstract:
The present review describes research on novel natural antitumor alkaloids isolated from marine invertebrates. The structure, origin, and confirmed cytotoxic activity of more than 130 novel alkaloids belonging to several structural families (indoles, pyrroles, pyrazines, quinolines, and pyridoacridines), together with some of their synthetic analogs, are illustrated. Recent discoveries concerning the current state of the potential and/or development of some of them as new drugs, as well as the current knowledge regarding their modes of action, are also summarized. A special emphasis is given to the role of marine invertebrate alkaloids as an important source of leads for anticancer drug discovery.
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