Natural product libraries to accelerate the high-throughput discovery of therapeutic leads

J Nat Prod. 2011 Dec 27;74(12):2545-55. doi: 10.1021/np200673b. Epub 2011 Nov 30.

Abstract

A high-throughput (HT) paradigm generating LC-MS-UV-ELSD-based natural product libraries to discover compounds with new bioactivities and or molecular structures is presented. To validate this methodology, an extract of the Indo-Pacific marine sponge Cacospongia mycofijiensis was evaluated using assays involving cytoskeletal profiling, tumor cell lines, and parasites. Twelve known compounds were identified including latrunculins (1-4, 10), fijianolides (5, 8, 9), mycothiazole (11), aignopsanes (6, 7), and sacrotride A (13). Compounds 1-5 and 8-11 exhibited bioactivity not previously reported against the parasite T. brucei, while 11 showed selectivity for lymphoma (U937) tumor cell lines. Four new compounds were also discovered including aignopsanoic acid B (13), apo-latrunculin T (14), 20-methoxy-fijianolide A (15), and aignopsane ketal (16). Compounds 13 and 16 represent important derivatives of the aignopsane class, 14 exhibited inhibition of T. brucei without disrupting microfilament assembly, and 15 demonstrated modest microtubule-stabilizing effects. The use of removable well plate libraries to avoid false positives from extracts enriched with only one or two major metabolites is also discussed. Overall, these results highlight the advantages of applying modern methods in natural products-based research to accelerate the HT discovery of therapeutic leads and/or new molecular structures using LC-MS-UV-ELSD-based libraries.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antineoplastic Agents / chemistry
  • Antineoplastic Agents / isolation & purification
  • Antineoplastic Agents / pharmacology
  • Biological Products* / chemistry
  • Biological Products* / pharmacology
  • Biological Products* / therapeutic use
  • Combinatorial Chemistry Techniques*
  • Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor
  • HT29 Cells
  • HeLa Cells
  • Humans
  • Marine Biology
  • Microbial Sensitivity Tests
  • Molecular Structure
  • Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular
  • Porifera / chemistry
  • Sesquiterpenes / chemistry
  • Sesquiterpenes / isolation & purification
  • Sesquiterpenes / pharmacology
  • Trypanosoma brucei brucei / drug effects

Substances

  • Antineoplastic Agents
  • Biological Products
  • Sesquiterpenes