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Background
The nonselective delivery of drugs to both targeted tumor cells and healthy cells is a major shortcoming of current chemotherapies. The discovery of cancer drugs which are able to target only cancerous cells, during drug delivery, would diminish nonspecific toxicity by reducing uptake by healthy cells. Motuporamines are anticancer compounds discovered in marine sponges near the coast of New Guinea (Motupore Island) in 1998. Unlike other cancer drugs, whose mechanism of action is inhibition of cell attachment of both cancer and healthy cells, motuporamines selectively inhibit migration and angiogenesis in cancer cells. These compounds are difficult to isolate from nature in large quantities, and their synthesis is a laborious multi-step process because they comprise a fifteen-membered ring. The current invention describes a new group of compounds that function in a similar manner as dihydromotuporamine C, yet they are significantly easier and less expensive to produce because the fifteen-membered ring is replaced with an anthracene ring system. As Motuporamine mimicking agents, these new compounds were shown to be effective as anti-metastatic and cytotoxic agents in in vitro assays.
Application
Motuporamine mimic agents can be used as anti-cancer drugs or in combination with another chemotherapeutic drug.
Invention
The current invention relates to motuporamine mimic agents and their use as anti cancer compounds.
Advantages
• Specificity for cancer cells
• Synthetic alternative to naturally derived Motuporamines
Lead Inventor
Otto Phanstiel, Ph.D.
Selected References
Kaur N, Delcros JG, Martin B, Phanstiel O IV. Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Dihydromotuporamine Derivatives in Cells Containing Active Polyamine Transporters. J. Med. Chem 2005; 48 (11): 3832-3829.
Breitbeil F III, Kaur N, Delcros JG, Martin B, Abhoud KA, Phanstiel O IV. Modeling the Preferred Shapes of Polyamine Transporter Ligands and Dihydromotuporamine-C Mimics: Shovel versus Hoe. J. Med. Chem 2006; 49(8): 2407-2416.
Contact
Attn: Svetlana Shtrom, Ph.D., MBA
University of Central Florida
Office of Research and Commercialization
12201 Research Parkway, Suite 501
Orlando, Fl 32826-3246
Phone: 407.823.5150
Fax: 407.823.3299
sshtrom@mail.ucf.edu
UCF ID# 7035 & 7563
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