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Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry

Editor-in-Chief

ISSN (Print): 1568-0266
ISSN (Online): 1873-4294

Review Article

Noscapine and its Analogs as Chemotherapeutic Agent: Current updates

Author(s): Vartika Tomar, Shrikant Kukreti, Satya Prakash, Jitender Madan and Ramesh Chandra

Volume 17, Issue 2, 2017

Page: [174 - 188] Pages: 15

DOI: 10.2174/1568026616666160530153518

Price: $65

Abstract

Recently, noscapine was reported as anticancer drug. Unlike, colchicine and podophyllotoxin, noscapine did not depolymerize microtubules even at stoichiometric concentrations but rather only mitigated their dynamics. Other microtubule-interacting chemotherapeutics, although quite effective, have therapy-limiting toxicities including immunosuppression and peripheral neuropathies. Recurrent cancers often become resistant. Noscapine however remains effective in some such instances, e.g., taxane-resistant ovarian cancer. Noscapine and analogs also do not show signs of neurotoxicity or immunosuppression. In addition, 9-bromo noscapine, Red-9-Br-Nos and other analogs were characterized for their structure and further studied in detail. On the other hand, noscapine was shown to be neuroprotective in mouse model of neurodegenerative disease and in stroke patients. Like low doses of colchicine, noscapine and its analog 9-Br-Noscapine also show anti-inflammatory activities. There are indications of a preventive use of noscapine in ischemiareperfusion injury and fibrosis. The entire biosynthetic pathway of noscapine is encoded as gene cluster within 401 kilo bases of genomic DNA, opening up opportunities for the large-scale biotechnological production of noscapine for medicinal needs. Thus, noscapine and its derivatives (noscapinoids) might be cost-effective and safe components for cancer chemotherapy. Owing to its low toxicity, it also might be useful for preventive use in high-risk situations. This brief review is an update of current research activity and patents on noscapine and its analogs.

Keywords: Noscapine, Therapeutics, Drug discovery, Microtubules, Tubulin, Anti-cancer drugs, Anti-angiogenic and Vascular targeting agents, Inflammation, Stroke.

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