[Antitumor activity of new derivatives of camptothecin]

With the purpose of obtaining more potent and less toxic camptothecin (CPT) analogs, we prepared many derivatives of CPT. Among them, 7-ethyl-CPT (SN 22) and 7-ethyl-10-hydroxy-CPT (SN 38) showed strong antitumor activity with less toxicity. They were, however, insoluble and when they were made soluble, their activity was markedly diminished, as a result of cleavage of the delta-lactone ring. We therefore attempted to make soluble derivatives without breaking the delta-lactone ring and obtained 7-ethyl-10-[4-(1-piperidino)-1-piperidino]-carbonyloxy-CPT (CPT-11), which showed very strong antitumor activity by i.p., i.v. or p.o. administration against the ascites type of L1210 leukemia, P388 leukemia, sarcoma 180, Meth A fibrosarcoma, B16 melanoma, Ehrlich carcinoma and MH134 hepatoma and the solid type of sarcoma 180, Meth A fibrosarcoma, Lewis lung carcinoma, C3H/HeN mammary carcinoma, Ehrlich carcinoma and MH134 hepatoma. The antileukemic activity of CPT-11 against L1210 was much higher than that of adriamycin. The acute toxicity of CPT-11 was extremely low, particularly in the case of oral administration, the LD50 being 765.3 mg/kg, 22 times greater than that of CPT-Na.