Owing to their potent cytotoxicity against tumor cells, including taxol (paclitaxel)-resistant cell lines, the epothilones (for example, epothilone A (1) and epothilone B (2)) continue to be the focus of intense chemical, biological, and clinical research efforts around the world. 3] Following the findings that cyclopropane-, methylsulfanylthiazole-, and pyridine-containing epothilone B derivat...

The inclusion complexation of Epothilone A with native cyclodextrin (β- or γ-CD) and its derivative hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HPβCD) were prepared. Their behavior, characterization, and binding ability were investigated in both solution and the solid state by means of UV-vis, NMR, XRD, DSC and SEM. The results show that the water solubility and solution stability obviously increased in the ...

The epothilones are naturally occurring antimitotic drugs that share with the taxanes a similar mechanism of action without apparent structural similarity. Although photoaffinity labeling and electron crystallographic studies have identified the taxane-binding site on beta-tubulin, similar data are not available for epothilones. To identify tubulin residues important for epothilone binding, we ...

Studies towards the synthesis of epothilone A via organoboranes have been described. A modified procedure for the large-scale preparation of B-gamma,gamma-dimethylallyldiisopinocampheylborane from prenyl alcohol has been developed. This reagent, upon reaction with various aldehydes, provides the corresponding alpha,alpha-dimethylhomoallylic alcohols in high enantioselectivities. The application...

Large-scale surveys show that the anti-tumour compounds known as epothilones are produced by only a small proportion of Sorangium strains, thereby greatly hampering the research and development of these valuable compounds. In this study, to investigate the niche diversity of epothilone-producing Sorangium strains, we re-surveyed four soil samples where epothilone producers were previously found...

Epothilones have demonstrated promising potential for oncology applications but suffer from a narrow therapeutic window. Epothilone D stabilizes microtubules leading to apoptosis, is active against multidrug-resistant cells, and is efficacious in animal tumor models despite lack of stability in rodent plasma. Clinical development was terminated in phase II due to dose limiting toxicities near t...

Epothilones are a new class of microtubule stabilizing agents with promising preclinical and clinical activity. Their cellular target is β-tubulin and factors influencing intrinsic sensitivity to epothilones are not well understood. In this study, the functional significance of specific β-tubulin isotypes in intrinsic sensitivity to epothilone B was investigated using siRNA gene knockdown again...

The abnormal proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) in arterial walls is an important pathogenetic factor of vascular disorders such as atherosclerosis and restenosis after angioplasty. Epothilone B, a novel potential antitumor compound, has a potent effect on preventing postangioplasty restenosis. Therefore, we established an in vivo rat carotid injury model and examined the pot...

Epothilones are a new class of potential antitumor compounds that were isolated from the myxobacterium Sorangium cellulosum. Epothilones have effects on the cytoskeleton similar to those of the antineoplastic drug Taxol. Both compounds inhibit cell proliferation by stabilizing microtubuli, and they compete for the same binding site. In addition, Taxol displays endotoxin-like properties in that ...

The preparation and biological evaluation of a novel series of dimeric epothilone A derivatives (1-6) are described. Two types of diacyl spacers were introduced to establish the various dimeric epothilone A constructs. The effect of these compounds on tubulin polymerization and their cytotoxicity against four different cancer cell lines are reported. Several of the newly synthesized compounds i...