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Anticancer and Reversing Multidrug Resistance Activities of Natural Isoquinoline Alkaloids and their

Zhi-Xing Qing1,2, Jia-Lu Huang1, Xue-Yi Yang1

  • 1Hunan Co-Innovation Center for Utilization of Botanical Functional Ingredients & College of Veterinary Medicine, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, China.

Current Medicinal Chemistry
|September 22, 2017
PubMed

Insights

Natural isoquinoline alkaloids show potent anticancer and multidrug-resistance (MDR) reversing activities. Certain types, like aporphine and protoberberine, are promising leads for new cancer drug development.

Area of Science:

  • Natural Product Chemistry
  • Pharmacology
  • Medicinal Chemistry

Background:

  • The rise of multidrug-resistant (MDR) cancers necessitates novel therapeutic agents.
  • Natural alkaloids like paclitaxel have proven successful in chemotherapy.
  • There is an urgent need for anticancer drugs with diverse mechanisms of action.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review 379 isoquinoline alkaloids from 26 classes for their anticancer and MDR reversing properties.
  • To discuss structure-activity relationships of these alkaloids.
  • To identify promising isoquinoline alkaloid subclasses for new drug discovery.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review of 379 isoquinoline alkaloids.
  • Summary of cytotoxic and MDR reversing activities against cancer cells.
  • Analysis of structure-activity relationships.

Main Results:

  • Twenty-six types of isoquinoline alkaloids were evaluated.
  • Some aporphine, oxoaporphine, isooxoaporphine, bisbenzylisoquinoline, and protoberberine alkaloids exhibited superior anticancer or anti-MDR effects compared to controls.
  • These specific subclasses show significant potential as anticancer drug leads.

Conclusions:

  • Isoquinoline alkaloids represent a rich source of anticancer compounds.
  • Specific subclasses, including aporphine and protoberberine derivatives, demonstrate significant potential for developing novel anticancer therapeutics.
  • Further investigation into these compounds could lead to effective treatments for MDR cancers.
Keywords:
Isoquinoline alkaloidsMDRanticanceraporphinebisbenzylisoquinolinenatural productoxoaporphinestructure-activity relationship.

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