Secondary Metabolites from the Culture of the Marine-derived Fungus PC 362H and Evaluation of the Anticancer Activity of Its Metabolite Hyalodendrin.

High-throughput screening assays have been designed to identify compounds capable of inhibiting phenotypes involved in cancer aggressiveness. However, most studies used commercially available chemical libraries. This prompted us to explore natural products isolated from marine-derived fungi as a new source of molecules.

Multifaceted Study on a Cytochalasin Scaffold: Lessons on Reactivity, Multidentate Catalysis, and Anticancer Properties.

An intramolecular Diels-Alder (IMDA) reaction efficiently accelerated by Schreiner's thiourea is reported, to build a functionalized cytochalasin scaffold (periconiasin series) for biological purposes. DFT calculation highlighted a unique multidentate cooperative hydrogen bonding in this catalysis. The deprotection end game afforded a collection of diverse structures and showed the peculiar reactivity of the Diels-Alder cycloadducts upon functionalization.

Intramolecular Aryne-Furan Cycloadditions for the Synthesis of Anticancer Naphthalimides.

An intramolecular aryne Diels-Alder reaction with a furan moiety was applied to the synthesis of dihydrobenzo[ de]isochromenes as intermediates toward naphthalimides. After oxidation, this method offers an efficient approach for the synthesis of substituted naphthalimides, which showed potent cytotoxic activity against HT-29 human cancer cell line.

Genotype- or Phenotype-Targeting Anticancer Therapies? Lessons from Tumor Evolutionary Biology.

Despite the efficacy of most cancer therapies, drug resistance remains a major problem in the clinic. The eradication of the entire tumor and the cure of the patient by chemotherapy alone are rare, in particular for advanced disease. From an evolutionary perspective, the selective pressure exerted by chemotherapy leads to the emergence of resistant clones where resistance can be associated with many different functional mechanisms at the single cell level or can involve changes in the tumor micro-environment.