Discovery of anticancer agents of diverse natural origin

Kinghorn, A. Douglas; Carcache de Blanco, Esperanza J.; Chai, Hee-Byung; Orjala, Jimmy; Farnsworth, Norman R.; Soejarto, D. Doel; Oberlies, Nicholas H.; Wani, Mansukh C.; Kroll, David J.; Pearce, Cedric J.; Swanson, Steven M.; Kramer, Robert A.; Rose, William C.; Fairchild, Craig R.; Vite, Gregory D.; Emanuel, Stuart; Jarjoura, David; Cope, Frederick O.

doi:10.1351/PAC-CON-08-10-16

Pure Appl. Chem., 2009, Vol. 81, No. 6, pp. 1051-1063

http://dx.doi.org/10.1351/PAC-CON-08-10-16

Published online 2009-05-05

Discovery of anticancer agents of diverse natural origin

A. Douglas Kinghorn¹*, Esperanza J. Carcache de Blanco¹, Hee-Byung Chai¹, Jimmy Orjala², Norman R. Farnsworth², D. Doel Soejarto², Nicholas H. Oberlies³, Mansukh C. Wani³, David J. Kroll³*, Cedric J. Pearce⁴, Steven M. Swanson², Robert A. Kramer⁵, William C. Rose⁵, Craig R. Fairchild⁵, Gregory D. Vite⁵, Stuart Emanuel⁵, David Jarjoura⁶ and Frederick O. Cope⁶

¹ College of Pharmacy, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
² College of Pharmacy, The University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612, USA
³ Research Triangle Institute, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA
⁴ Mycosynthetix, Inc., Hillsborough, NC 27278, USA
⁵ Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pharmaceutical Research Institute, Princeton, NJ 08543, USA
⁶ Comprehensive Cancer Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA

Abstract: A collaborative multidisciplinary research project is described in which new natural product anticancer drug leads are obtained from a diverse group of organisms, constituted by tropical plants, aquatic cyanobacteria, and filamentous fungi. Information is provided on how these organisms are collected and processed. The types of bioassays are indicated in which crude extracts of these acquisitions are tested. Progress made in the isolation of lead bioactive secondary metabolites from three tropical plants is discussed.