Design and synthesis of naturally occurring organic molecules and analogues as anticancer agents
Pancreatic cancer has the highest mortality rate of any human cancer and current treatment options for patients are very limited. The discovery of novel molecules possessing antitumor activity provides an avenue towards the development of new therapeutics for pancreatic cancer. Natural products are privileged structures often possessing important biological activity. As such, they provide scientists with promising lead structures from which analogues with improved biological activities (e.g., potency, selectivity, pharmacokinetics) can be prepared.
Recently, a novel anticancer agent, angelmarin, was isolated from extracts of the medicinal plant Angelica Pubescens and found to exhibit toxicity specifically against the pancreatic cancer cell line PANC-1. Based on its promising biological activity, we have selected this natural product to serve as a scaffold to develop novel anticancer agents. Research in my laboratory is currently focused on two major goals: a) the asymmetric total synthesis of angelmarin, and b) lead compound optimization guided by structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies to develop a superior therapeutic agent.
For more information on this project, please email the DCM Lab: dcarrico@wellesley.edu
See also: Design of therapeutic agents against Hepatitis C Virus and efficient fluorescent probes for screening of antiviral agents
