Sophoridine

Sophoridine, a natural anticancer drug, has been used in China for decades. A series of novel N-substituted Sophoridinic acid derivatives were synthesized and evaluated for their cytotoxicity with 1 as the lead. The structure-activity relationship indicated that introduction of an aliphatic acyl on the nitrogen atom might significantly enhance the anticancer activity. Among the compounds, 6b bearing bromoacetyl side-chain afforded a potential effect against four human tumor cell lines (liver, colon, breast, and lung) . The mechanism of action of 6b is to inhibit the activity of DNA topoisomerase I, followed by the S-phase arrest and then cause apoptotic cell death, similar to that of its parent 1. (In Vitro) :Sophoridine (0-500 μM; 48 hours) exhibits remarkable inhibition effects to the growth of human pancreatic, gastric, liver, colon, gallbladder, and prostate carcinoma cells with IC50 values of about 20 μM to 200 μM.Sophoridine (0-20 μM; 48 hours) increases S phase cell population from 26.23% (control) to 38.67% in Miapaca-2 cells and from 29.56% (control) to 39.16% in PANC-1 cells, about a 1.5-fold and a 1.3-fold increase, respectively.Sophoridine (0-20 μM; 48 hours) significantly increases bad and bax levels, and decreases bcl-2 and bcl-xl levels in contrast, with a significant increase in Bax/Bcl-2 ratio. (In Vivo) :Sophoridine (intraperitoneal injection; 20 or 40 mg/kg; 21 days) can inhibit the growth of xenograft pancreatic tumors.