Researchers Develop Practical Technique to Produce Promising Anticancer Substance on Large Scale

A new article published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry reports on the development of a technique through which scientists can produce large amounts of a promising new anticancer substance which kills off cancer cells in a different way compared to existing medicines. Isamu Shiina and colleagues explain that the substance, AMF-26, showed promise against certain forms of cancer in laboratory studies, fostering excitement about its potential for development as a new anti-cancer drug. That excitement centered on AMF-26's action in targeting a structure in cells, the Golgi apparatus, that had never been exploited in the past. The Golgi apparatus sorts and modifies hormones, enzymes and other key proteins for transport elsewhere.

However, AMF-26 had been available in only small amounts by semisynthesis starting from AMF-14, which was extracted from the common soil mold of the genus Trichoderma.

Their report describes the first successful practical synthesis of AMF-26 and laboratory tests showing that the synthetic AMF-26 is just as effective as its natural counterpart. "The large-scale production of AMF-26 and its derivatives for the development of novel anticancer drugs are now in progress in this laboratory," the report states.



Source-Eurekalert