Synthesis and anti-tumor activity of carbohydrate analogues of the tetrahydrofuran containing acetogenins.

The tetrahydrofuran (THF) containing annonaceous acetogenins (AAs) are attractive candidates for drug development because of their potent cytotoxicity against a wide range of tumors and their relatively simple and robust structures. Replacement of the THF segment with a sugar residue may deliver analogues with improved tumor selectivity and pharmacokinetics and are therefore attractive for drug development. As a first test to the feasibility of such structures, a set of such monosaccharide analogues was synthesized and assayed against four human tumor cell lines, cervical (HeLa), breast (MDA-MB231), T-cell leukemia (Jurkat) and prostate (PC-3). Certain analogues showed low micromolar activity that was comparable to a structurally similar, naturally occurring mono-THF acetogenin. A preliminary examination of the structure-activity profile of these carbohydrate analogues suggests that they have a similar mechanism of action as their THF congeners.