The interaction between tylophorine B and TMV RNA

Chemical and Biological Investigations of Antiviral Agents Against Plant Viruses Conducted in China in the 21st Century

Research into the biology of plant viruses, their mechanisms of pathogenicity, and the induction of host resistance has laid a solid foundation for the discovery of antiviral agents and their targets and the development of effective control technologies. Additionally, recent advancements in fields such as chemical biology, cheminformatics, bioinformatics, and synthetic biology have provided valuable methods and tools for the design of antiviral drugs, the synthesis of drug molecules, assessment of their activity, and investigation of their modes of action. Compared with drug development for human viral diseases, the control of plant viral diseases presents greater challenges, including the cost-benefit of agents, simplification of control technologies, and the effectiveness of treatments. Therefore, in the current context of complex outbreaks and severe damage caused by plant viral diseases, it is crucial to delve deeper into the research and development of antiviral agents. This review provides a detailed overview of the biological characteristics of current targets for antiviral agents, the mode of interaction between plant virus targets and antivirals, and insights for future drug development. We believe this review will not only facilitate the in-depth analysis of the development of antivirals for crops but also offer valuable perspectives for the development of antiviral agents for use in human and veterinary medicine.

Palladium-Catalyzed Synthesis of Substituted Phenanthrenes via a C-H Annulation of 2-Biaryl Triflates with Alkynes

A new palladium-catalyzed efficient method for the synthesis of substituted 9,10-phenanthrenes from 2-biaryl triflates with alkynes has been developed. This method provides a great opportunity to prepare various symmetrical and unsymmetrical phenanthrene derivatives in good yields. This reaction proceeds via C-OTf bond cleavage and alkyne insertion followed by C-H annulation.

Progress on the Synthesis of the Aromathecin Family of Compounds: An Overview

We present a systematic review of the methods developed for the synthesis of the aromathecin family of compounds (benz[6,7]indolizino[1,2-b]quinolin-11(13H)-ones) and their derivatives. These methods can be broadly classified into four categories based on the construction of pentacyclic structures: Category 1: by constructing a pyridone moiety (D-ring) on the pyrroloquinoline ring (A/B/C-ring), Category 2: by constructing a pyridine moiety (B-ring) on the pyrroloisoquinolone ring (C/D/E-ring), Category 3: by constructing an indolizidinone moiety (C/D-ring) in a tandem reaction, and Category 4: by constructing a pyrrolidine moiety (C-ring) on the isoquinolone ring (D/E-ring).

N-Heterocycles as Promising Antiviral Agents: A Comprehensive Overview

Viruses are a real threat to every organism at any stage of life leading to extensive infections and casualties. N-heterocycles can affect the viral life cycle at many points, including viral entrance into host cells, viral genome replication, and the production of novel viral species. Certain N-heterocycles can also stimulate the host's immune system, producing antiviral cytokines and chemokines that can stop the reproduction of viruses. This review focused on recent five- or six-membered synthetic N-heterocyclic molecules showing antiviral activity through SAR analyses. The review will assist in identifying robust scaffolds that might be utilized to create effective antiviral drugs with either no or few side effects.

Total Synthesis of Phenanthroindolizidines Using Strained Azacyclic Alkynes

We report a concise approach to phenanthroindolizidine alkaloids, wherein strained azacyclic alkynes are intercepted in Pd-catalyzed annulations. Two types of strained intermediates were evaluated: a functionalized piperidyne and a new strained intermediate, an indolizidyne. We show that each can be employed, ultimately allowing access to three natural products: tylophorine, tylocrebine, and isotylocrebine. These efforts demonstrate the successful merger of strained azacyclic alkyne chemistry with transition-metal catalysis for the construction of complex heterocycles.

Synthesis and antiviral activity of diverse heterocyclic scaffolds

Heterocyclic moieties form a major part of organic chemistry as they are widely distributed in nature and have wide scale practical applications ranging from extensive clinical use to diverse fields such as medicine, agriculture, photochemistry, biocidal formulations, and polymer science. By virtue of their therapeutic properties, they could be employed in combating many infectious diseases. Among the common infectious diseases, viral infections are of great public health importance worldwide. Thus, there is an urgent need for the discovery and development of antiviral drugs and clinical methods to prevent various viral infections so as to increase the life expectancy. This review presents the comprehensive overview of the synthesis and antiviral activity of different heterocyclic compounds 2015 onwards, which aids in present knowledge and helps the researchers and other stakeholders to explore their field.

Research progress on the antiviral activities of natural products and their derivatives: Structure–activity relationships

Viruses spread rapidly and are well-adapted to changing environmental events. They can infect the human body readily and trigger fatal diseases. A limited number of drugs are available for specific viral diseases, which can lead to non-efficacy against viral variants and drug resistance, so drugs with broad-spectrum antiviral activity are lacking. In recent years, a steady stream of new viral diseases has emerged, which has prompted development of new antiviral drugs. Natural products could be employed to develop new antiviral drugs because of their innovative structures and broad antiviral activities. This review summarizes the progress of natural products in antiviral research and their bright performance in drug resistance issues over the past 2 decades. Moreover, it fully discusses the effect of different structural types of natural products on antiviral activity in terms of structure–activity relationships. This review could provide a foundation for the development of antiviral drugs.

Improved Total Synthesis of Indolizidine and Quinolizidine Alkaloids via Nickel-Catalyzed (4 + 2) Cycloaddition

A Ni-catalyzed (4 + 2) cycloaddition of bicyclic 3-azetidinones and alkynes was developed to access indolizidine and quinolizidine alkaloids. A key element was the development of a diazomethylation procedure that allows the efficient synthesis of bicyclic azetidinones from pyroglutamic and 6-oxopiperidine-2-carboxylic acid. A ligand screening led to improved regioselectivity and enantiopurity during the Ni-catalyzed (4 + 2) cycloaddition. This straightforward methodology was leveraged to synthesize (+)-ipalbidine, (+)-septicine, (+)-seco-antofine, and (+)-7-methoxy-julandine.

Target-Directed Design, Synthesis, Antiviral Activity, and SARs of 9-Substituted Phenanthroindolizidine Alkaloid Derivatives

On the basis of our previous studies on the antiviral mechanism against tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) and structure-activity relationship of phenanthroindolizidine alkaloids, a series of 9-substituted tylophorine derivatives targeting TMV RNA were designed, synthesized, and assessed for their anti-TMV activities. The bioassay results indicated that most of these compounds showed good in vivo anti-TMV activities, and some of them displayed higher activity than that of commercial ribavirin. Especially, the anti-TMV activities of compound 3b, 4, and 6 are 2-3 times higher than that of commercial ribavirin, according to EC₅₀ values. In this work, we have demonstrated an effective way to design new inhibitors against plant virus and developed 9-ethoxy methyl tylophorine (4) with excellent anti-TMV activity (in vitro activity, 70.2%/500 μg/mL and 27.1%/100 μg/mL; inactivation activity, 67.7%/500 μg/mL and 30.5%/100 μg/mL; curative activity, 65.3%/500 μg/mL and 30.8%/100 μg/mL; and protection activity, 65.9%/500 μg/mL and 36.0%/100 μg/mL) as a potential plant viral inhibitor.

A Concise Total Synthesis of Dehydroantofine and Its Antimalarial Activity against Chloroquine-Resistant Plasmodium falciparum

The total synthesis of dehydroantofine was achieved by employing a novel, regioselective, azahetero Diels-Alder reaction of easily accessible 3,5-dichloro-2H-1,4-oxazin-2-one with 14 a as a key step. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that dehydroantofine is a promising candidate as a new antimalarial agent in a biological assay with chloroquine-resistant Plasmodium falciparum.

Transcriptomic and Functional Analyses Indicate Novel Anti-viral Mode of Actions on Tobacco Mosaic Virus of a Microbial Natural Product ε-Poly-l-lysine

Novel anti-viral natural product ε-poly-l-lysine (ε-PL) produced by Streptomyces is a homopolymer of l-lysine, of which the underlying molecular mode of action remains to be further elucidated. In this study, ε-PL induced significant fragmentation of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) virions and delayed the systemic infection of TMV-GFP as well as wild-type TMV in plants. ε-PL treatment also markedly inhibited RNA accumulation of TMV in tobacco BY-2 protoplasts. The results of RNA-seq indicated that the agent induced significantly differential expression of genes that are associated with defense response, stress response, autophagy, and ubiquitination. Among them, 15 critical differential expressed genes were selected for real-time quantitative PCR validation. We further demonstrated that ε-PL can induce host defense responses by assessing the activity of several defense-related enzymes in plants. Our results provided valuable insights into molecular anti-viral mode of action for ε-PL, which is expected to be applied as a novel microbial natural product against plant virus diseases.

Possible pharmaceutical applications can be developed from naturally occurring phenanthroindolizidine and phenanthroquinolizidine alkaloids

Naturally occurring phenanthroindolizidine and phenanthroquinolizidine alkaloids (PIAs and PQAs) are two small groups of herbal metabolites sharing a similar pentacyclic structure with a highly oxygenated phenanthrene moiety fused with a saturated or an unsaturated N-heterocycle (indolizidine/quinolizidine moieties). Natural PIAs and PQAs only could be obtained from finite plant families (such as Asclepiadaceae, Lauraceae and Urticaceae families, etc.). Up to date, more than one hundred natural PIAs, while only nine natural PQAs had been described. PIA and PQA analogues have been applied to the development of potent anticancer agents all along because of their excellent cytotoxic activity. However, in the last two decades, other great biological properties, such as anti-inflammatory and antiviral activities were revealed successively by different pharmacological assays. Especially because of their potent antiviral activity against coronavirus (TGEV, SARS CoV and MHV) and tobacco mosaic virus, PIA and PQA analogues have attracted much pharmaceutical attention again, some of them have been used to present interesting targets for total or semi synthesis, and structure-activity relationship (SAR) study for the development of antiviral agents. In this review, natural PIA and PQA analogues obtained in the last two decades with their herbal origins, key spectroscopic characteristics for structural identification, biological activity with possible SARs and application prospects were systematically summarized. We hope this paper can stimulate further investigations on PIA and PQA analogues as an important source for potential drug discovery.

Discovery, Structural Optimization, and Mode of Action of Essramycin Alkaloid and Its Derivatives as Anti-Tobacco Mosaic Virus and Anti-Phytopathogenic Fungus Agents

Plant diseases seriously affect crop yield and quality and are difficult to control. Marine natural products (MNPs) have become an important source of drug candidates with new biological mechanisms. Marine natural product essramycin (1) was found to have good anti-tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) and anti-phytopathogenic fungus activities for the first time. A series of essramycin derivatives were designed, synthesized, and evaluated for their bioactivity. Most of these compounds exhibited antiviral effects that are greater than that of the control ribavirin. Compounds 7e and 8f displayed antiviral activities that are greater than that of ningnanmycin (the most widely used antiviral agent at present), thus emerging as novel antiviral lead compounds. As the lead compound, 7e was selected for further antiviral mechanism research. The results indicated that 7e could inhibit virus assembly and promote 20S disk protein aggregation. Fungicidal activity tests against 14 kinds of phytopathogenic fungi revealed that essramycin analogues displayed broad-spectrum fungicidal activities. Compound 5b displayed more than 50% inhibition rate against most of the 14 kinds of phytopathogenic fungi at 50 μg/mL. The current research lays a solid foundation for the application of essramycin alkaloids in crop protection.

The Potential Impacts of Tylophora Alkaloids and their Derivatives in Modulating Inflammation, Viral Infections, and Cancer

Cancer chemotherapies or antitumor agents mainly remain the backbone of current treatment based on killing the rapidly dividing cancer cell such as tylophora alkaloids and their analogues which have also demonstrated anticancer potential through diverse biological pathways including regulation of the immune system. The introduction of durable clinically effective monoclonal antibodies, however, unmasked a new era of cancer immunotherapies. Therefore, the understanding of cancer pathogenesis will provide new possible treatment options, including cancer immunotherapy and targeted agents. Combining cytotoxic agents and immunotherapies may offer several unique advantages that are complementary to and potentially synergistic with biologic modalities. Herein, we highlight the dynamic mechanism of action of immune modulation in cancer and the immunological aspects of the orally active antitumor agents tylophora alkaloids and their analogues. We also suggest that future cancer treatments will rely on the development of combining tumor-targeted agents and biologic immunotherapies.

Optimization, Structure-Activity Relationship, and Mode of Action of Nortopsentin Analogues Containing Thiazole and Oxazole Moieties

Plant diseases seriously endanger plant health, and it is very difficult to control them. A series of nortopsentin analogues were designed, synthesized, and evaluated for their antiviral activities and fungicidal activities. Most of these compounds displayed higher antiviral activities than ribavirin. Compounds 1d, 1e, and 12a, with excellent antiviral activities, emerged as novel antiviral lead compounds, among which 1e was selected for further antiviral mechanism research. The mechanism research results indicated that these compounds may play an antiviral role by aggregating viral particles to prevent their movement in plants. Further fungicidal activity tests revealed that nortopsentin analogues displayed broad-spectrum fungicidal activities. Compounds 2p and 2f displayed higher antifungal activities against Alternaria solani than the commercial fungicides carbendazim and chlorothalonil. Current research has laid a foundation for the application of nortopsentin analogues in plant protection.

Natural Products for Drug Discovery: Discovery of Gramines as Novel Agents against a Plant Virus

Plant viral diseases seriously affect crop yield and quality. The natural product gramine (1) and its simple structural analogues 2-35 were synthesized from indoles, amines, and aldehydes in one step. The antiviral effects of these alkaloids were evaluated systematically. Most of these compounds were found to have higher antiviral effects than commercial ribavirin for the first time. Especially compounds 22, 30, and 31 exhibited significantly higher effects than ningnanmycin, thereby emerging as novel antiviral leads for further optimization. The preliminary implementation indicated that these compounds likely inhibit the assembly of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) by cross-linking TMV capsid protein. Gramine analogues were also found to have broad-spectrum fungicidal effects. Although gramine has been reported to have influence on germination and development of Erysiphe graminis, these compounds displayed no fungicidal effects against Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici on wheat in our test. Some of these compounds also exhibited certain insecticidal activities.

In vitro thermotherapy-based methods for plant virus eradication

Production of virus-free plants is necessary to control viral diseases, import novel cultivars from other countries, exchange breeding materials between countries or regions and preserve plant germplasm. In vitro techniques represent the most successful approaches for virus eradication. In vitro thermotherapy-based methods, including combining thermotherapy with shoot tip culture, chemotherapy, micrografting or shoot tip cryotherapy, have been successfully established for efficient eradication of various viruses from almost all of the most economically important crops. The present study reviewed recent advances in in vitro thermotherapy-based methods for virus eradication since the twenty-first century. Mechanisms as to why thermotherapy-based methods could efficiently eradicate viruses were discussed. Finally, future prospects were proposed to direct further studies.

Design, Synthesis, and Antitobacco Mosaic Virus Activity of Water-Soluble Chiral Quaternary Ammonium Salts of Phenanthroindolizidines Alkaloids

To study the influence of the substituent at the N-10 position on antiviral activity, the chiral quaternary ammonium salt derivatives of R- and S-tylophorine were designed, synthesized, and evaluated for antiviral activity against tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). The bioassay results indicated that most of the designed structural analogues showed good in vivo anti-TMV activity, among which propargyl quaternary ammonium salt compound S-7b showed the best anti-TMV activities (80.5%, 77.6%, 76.6%, 82.1%) at 500 μg/mL both in vitro and in vivo in the laboratory. In the field trials of antiviral efficacy against TMV, S-7b as well exhibited better activities than control plant virus inhibitors. The stability of compound S-7b was obviously increased, and its solubility was more than 500-times higher than that of S-tylophorine. Therefore, chiral quaternary ammonium salt S-7b was expected to be developed as a promising candidate as an inhibitor of plant virus.

Expedient synthesis of 9,10-phenanthrenes via LiOPiv-promoted and palladium-catalysed aryne annulation by vinyl triflates

An expedient synthesis of 9,10-phenanthrenes via LiOPiv-promoted and palladium-catalysed aryne annulation by vinyl triflates.

Spatial Configuration and Three-Dimensional Conformation Directed Design, Synthesis, Antiviral Activity, and Structure-Activity Relationships of Phenanthroindolizidine Analogues

Our recent investigation on the antiviral activities against tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) of phenanthroindolizidine alkaloid analogues preliminarily revealed that the basic skeleton and substitution pattern at the C13a position of the molecule, which are closely related to the spatial arrangement of the molecule, have great effects on the biological activity. To further study the in-depth influence of spatial configuration and three-dimensional (3D) conformation of the molecules on their anti-TMV activities and related structure-activity relationship (SAR), a series of D-ring opened derivatives 3, 4, 5a-5j, 6, and 7, chiral 13a- and/or 14-substituted phenanthroindolizidine analogues 10-12 and 18-20, and their enantiomers ent-10-ent-12 and ent-18-ent-20 were synthesized and evaluated for their anti-TMV activities. Bioassay results showed that most of the chiral phenanthroindolizidines displayed good to excellent in vivo anti-TMV activity. Among these compounds, ent-11 showed more potent activity than Ningnanmycin (one of the most successful commercial antiviral agents), thus emerging as a potential inhibitor of the plant virus. Further SARs were also discussed for the first time under the chiral scenario, demonstrating that both spatial configuration and 3D conformation of the molecules are crucial for keeping high anti-TMV activity.

Cyclic enaminones. Part II: applications as versatile intermediates in alkaloid synthesis

Among many other strategies, the enaminone approach is an important strategy to construct and diversify the azacyclic core in various alkaloids syntheses. In this brief review we discuss the application of cyclic enaminones as building blocks, as well as potential intermediates in the total synthesis of selected alkaloids.

New Strategies and Methods to Study Interactions between Tobacco Mosaic Virus Coat Protein and Its Inhibitors

Studies of the targets of anti-viral compounds are hot topics in the field of pesticide research. Various efficient anti-TMV (Tobacco Mosaic Virus) compounds, such as Ningnanmycin (NNM), Antofine (ATF), Dufulin (DFL) and Bingqingxiao (BQX) are available. However, the mechanisms of the action of these compounds on targets remain unclear. To further study the mechanism of the action of the anti-TMV inhibitors, the TMV coat protein (TMV CP) was expressed and self-assembled into four-layer aggregate disks in vitro, which could be reassembled into infectious virus particles with TMV RNA. The interactions between the anti-TMV compounds and the TMV CP disk were analyzed by size exclusion chromatography, isothermal titration calorimetry and native-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis methods. The results revealed that assembly of the four-layer aggregate disk was inhibited by NNM; it changed the four-layer aggregate disk into trimers, and affected the regular assembly of TMV CP and TMV RNA. The four-layer aggregate disk of TMV CP was little inhibited by ATF, DFL and BQX. Our results provide original data, as well as new strategies and methods, for research on the mechanism of action of anti-viral drugs.

Design, synthesis, antiviral activity and mode of action of phenanthrene-containing N-heterocyclic compounds inspired by the phenanthroindolizidine alkaloid antofine

BACKGROUND

The phenanthroindolizidine alkaloid antofine and its analogues have excellent antiviral activity against tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). To simplify the structure and the synthesis of the phenanthroindolizidine alkaloid, a series of phenanthrene-containing N-heterocyclic compounds (compounds 1 to 33) were designed and synthesised, based on the intermolecular interaction of antofine and TMV RNA, and systematically evaluated for their anti-TMV activity.

RESULT

Most of these compounds exhibited good to reasonable anti-TMV activity. The optimum compounds 5, 12 and 21 displayed higher activity than the lead compound antofine and commercial ribavirin. Compound 12 was chosen for field trials of antiviral efficacy against TMV, and was found to exhibit better activity than control plant virus inhibitors. Compounds 5 and 12 were chosen for mode of action studies. The changes in fluorescence intensity of compounds 5 and 12 on separated TMV RNA showed that these small molecules can also bind to TMV RNA, but the mode is very different from that of antofine.

CONCLUSION

The compounds combining phenanthrene and an N-heterocyclic ring could maintain the anti-TMV activity of phenanthroindolizidines, but their modes of action are different from that of antofine. The present study lays a good foundation for us to find more efficient anti-plant virus reagents.

The novel anti-neuroblastoma agent PF403, inhibits proliferation and invasion in vitro and in brain xenografts

Neuroblastoma is the most common cancer in infants and the fourth most common cancer in children. Our previous study showed that PF403 had a potent antitumor ability. In the present study, we evaluated the anti-neuroblastoma property of PF403 and investigated the underlying mechanisms. MTT assay, colony formation assay and flow cytometry assay were used to assess cytotoxicity of PF403 on SH-SY5Y cells. Transwell assay was chosen to estimate the anti-invasion ability of PF403 on neuroblastoma cells. The protein expression was detected by western blot analysis. The SH-SY5Y brain xenograft model was used to assess in vivo antitumor activity of PF403. PF403-mediated SH-SY5Y cell death was found to be dose- and time-dependent, and PF403 was able to limit invasion and metastasis of neuroblastoma cells. MRI and pathology analysis proved that the pro-drug of PF403, CAT3, inhibited SH-SY5Y cells in vivo. PF403 decreased expression of phosphorylated FAK, MMP-2 and MMP-9 proteins, and downregulated the activity of PI3K/AKT and Raf/ERK pathways, followed by regulation of the proteins expression of Bcl-2 family, activated caspase-3, -9 and PARP and initiation of apoptosis of neuroblastoma cells. PF403 exerted cytotoxicity against SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cell both in vitro and in vivo, and inhibited its invasion ability, suggesting PF403 has potential as a new anticancer drug for the treatment of neuroblastoma.

Design, synthesis, antiviral activity, and SARs of 13a-substituted phenanthroindolizidine alkaloid derivatives

On the basis of our previous structure-activity relationship (SAR) and antiviral mechanism studies, a series of 13a-substituted phenanthroindolizidine alkaloid analogues (3a-16a, 3b, 4b, 6b, 7b, 10b, and 14b) were designed targeting tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) RNA, synthesized, and evaluated for their antiviral activity against TMV for the first time. The bioassay results showed that most of the synthesized compounds (such as 4a, 6a, 7a, 11a, 14a, 6b, and 14b) exhibited good to excellent antiviral activity against TMV both in vitro and in vivo. Especially, for inactivation effect and curative effect, compounds 4a, 6a, 7a, 11a, 14a, and 14b showed higher activity at both concentrations (500 μg mL(-1) and 100 μg mL(-1)) than commercial Ningnanmycin. Preliminary SARs showed that the substituted groups with hydrogen donor at 13a position were found to be favorable for keeping high antiviral activity. The present work demonstrates that 13a-substituted phenanthroindolizidines can be used as possible lead compounds for developing anti-TMV agents.

Design, synthesis, antiviral activity, and structure-activity relationships (SARs) of two types of structurally novel phenanthroindo/quinolizidine analogues

To investigate the influence of the variation of the original skeletons of natural phenanthroindo/quinolizidine alkaloids on antiviral activities, two types of structurally totally novel analogues 7a, 7b, 16a, and 16b were designed, synthesized, and evaluated against tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) for the first time. Bioassay results indicated that all four of the newly designed analogues showed good to excellent antiviral activities, among which analogue 16a dispalyed comparable activity with that of ningnanmycin, perhaps one of the most successful commercial antiviral agents, thus emerging as a potential inhibitor of plant virus and serving as a new lead for further optimization. Further structure-activity relationships are also discussed, demonstrating for the first time that the same changes of the original skeletons of phenanthroindolizidine and phenanthroquinolizidine exihibted totally different antiviral activities results, providing some original and useful information about the preferential conformation for maintaining high activities.

Tylophorine, a phenanthraindolizidine alkaloid isolated from Tylophora indica exerts antiangiogenic and antitumor activity by targeting vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2-mediated angiogenesis

Background

Anti-angiogenesis targeting VEGFR2 has been considered as an important strategy for cancer therapy. Tylophorine is known to possess anti-inflammatory and antitumor activity, but its roles in tumor angiogenesis, the key step involved in tumor growth and metastasis, and the involved molecular mechanism is still unknown. Therefore, we examined its anti-angiogenic effects and mechanisms in vitro and in vivo.

Methods

We used tylophorine and analyzed its inhibitory effects on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) in vitro and Ehrlich ascites carcinoma (EAC) tumor in vivo.

Results

Tylophorine significantly inhibited a series of VEGF-induced angiogenesis processes including proliferation, migration, and tube formation of endothelial cells. Besides, it directly inhibited VEGFR2 tyrosine kinase activity and its downstream signaling pathways including Akt, Erk and ROS in endothelial cells. Using HUVECs we demonstrated that tylophorine inhibited VEGF-stimulated inflammatory responses including IL-6, IL-8, TNF-α, IFN-γ, MMP-2 and NO secretion. Tylophorine significantly inhibited neovascularization in sponge implant angiogenesis assay and also inhibited tumor angiogenesis and tumor growth in vivo. Molecular docking simulation indicated that tylophorine could form hydrogen bonds and aromatic interactions within the ATP-binding region of the VEGFR2 kinase unit.

Conclusion

Tylophorine exerts anti-angiogenesis effects via VEGFR2 signaling pathway thus, may be a viable drug candidate in anti-angiogenesis and anti-cancer therapies.

Synthesis and antiviral activities of antofine analogues with different C-6 substituent groups

On the basis of previous structure-activity relationship (SAR) and antiviral mechanism studies, antofine analogues with different substituent groups at the C-6 position targeting tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) RNA were synthesized for the first time. The antofine analogues 1a-8a and 1b-9b were evaluated for their antiviral activity against TMV. The SAR study of antofine analogues is discussed. Most of the compounds were found to exhibit higher antiviral activity than commercial Ningnanmycin in vitro and in vivo. The groups with hydrogen donor or electron-withdrawing groups at the C-6 position were found to be favorable for antiviral activity.

Design, synthesis, and antiviral activity evaluation of phenanthrene-based antofine derivatives

On the basis of our previous structure-activity relationship (SAR) and antiviral mechanism studies, a series of phenanthrene-based antofine derivatives (1-12 and 18-50) were designed targeting tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) RNA and synthesized and systematically evaluated for their antiviral activity against TMV. The bioassay results showed that most of these compounds exhibited good to excellent in vivo anti-TMV activity, of which compounds 19 and 27 displayed higher activity than commercial Ribavirin, thus emerging as potential inhibitors of plant virus. The novel concise structure provides another new template for antiviral studies.

Design, synthesis, antiviral activity, and SARs of 14-aminophenanthroindolizidines

Based on our previous structure-activity relationship and antiviral mechanism studies, a series of 14-aminophenanthroindolizidines (1a-i, 2, and 3) were designed, targeting tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) RNA, and synthesized and systematically evaluated for their antiviral activity against TMV. The bioassay results showed that most of these compounds exhibited good to excellent in vivo anti-TMV activity, of which compounds 1d and 1h displayed significantly higher activity than commercial ningnanmycin, and thus emerged as potential inhibitors of plant virus. The introduction of amino groups at the 14-position of phenanthroindolizidines, which is proposed to interact with arginine residues around the TMV RNA, increased anti-TMV activity.

Antitumor agents 288: design, synthesis, SAR, and biological studies of novel heteroatom-incorporated antofine and cryptopleurine analogues as potent and selective antitumor agents

Novel heteroatom-incorporated antofine and cryptopleurine analogues were designed, synthesized, and tested against a panel of five cancer cell lines. Two new S-13-oxo analogues (11 and 16) exhibited potent cell growth inhibition in vitro (GI(50): 9 nM and 20 nM). Interestingly, both compounds displayed improved selectivity among different cancer cell lines, in contrast to the natural products antofine and cryptopleurine. Mechanism of action (MOA) studies suggested that R-antofine promotes dysregulation of DNA replication during early S phase, while no similar effects were observed for 11 and 15 on corresponding replication initiation complexes. Compound 11 also showed greatly reduced cytotoxicity against normal cells and moderate antitumor activity against HT-29 human colorectal adenocarcinoma xenograft in mice without overt toxicity.

Total syntheses of arylindolizidine alkaloids (+)-ipalbidine and (+)-antofine

This paper presents the first application of two recently developed reactions to natural product synthesis. The first method involves a 6-endo-trig cyclization to prepare a versatile chiral enaminone building block. The second is a direct C-H arylation reaction. As a showcase for the utility of these methods, (+)-antofine and (+)-ipalbidine were synthesized in only 8 steps and 24-26% overall yields.

China: forward to the green pesticides via a basic research program

The 973 Program is China's keystone national research program established to support basic research in natural and physical sciences. In addition to promoting the development of core technology and scientific infrastructure needed to enable China to meet the social and economic challenges of the 21st century, the training and mentoring of the new generation of China's young scientists are also important objectives of this national program. The green chemical pesticide research program is a part of the 973 Program. The main objectives of stage 1 of the green chemical pesticide research program (2003-2008) are to establish China's capability to conduct basic research in the discovery of "green" crop protection chemicals that are not only novel in mode of action and highly selective to pest species that are unique to China's agricultural situation but also possess favorable environmental and human hazard and risk potentials. The target-based discovery strategy was selected as the main discovery platform. This strategy not only provided this research program the best chance to discover new products but also provided members of this research team opportunities to establish core technologies in chemoinformatics/computation-aided pesticide design using QSAR, QAAR, sensitive and selective bioassay methodology, combinatorial synthesis, hit to lead optimization, and biological targets that were derived from resistance-AChE, IGR, nAChR, etc. On the basis of the learning from stage 1, stage 2 (2010-2014) of this program will focus on the molecular target-oriented innovation of green chemical pesticides. This commentary presents key learnings and accomplishments from the stage 1 of China's green chemical pesticide research program. It is hoped that this information will stimulate further constructive collaborations between pesticide scientists from China and abroad.

Phenanthroindolizidines and Phenanthroquinolizidines: Promising Alkaloids for Anti-Cancer Therapy

The phenanthroindolizidine and phenanthroquinolizidine alkaloids, typified by tylophorine and cryptopleurine, are a family of plant-derived small molecules with significant therapeutic potential. The plant extracts have been used in herbal medicine and the isolated compounds have displayed a range of promising therapeutic activity such as anti-ameobicidal, anti-viral, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer activity. Despite their therapeutic protential, no compounds in this class have fully passed clinical trials. Drawbacks include low in vivo anti-cancer activity, central nervous system toxicity and low natural availability. A number of biological effects of these compounds, such as protein and nucleic acid synthesis suppression, have been identified, but the specific biomolecular targets have not yet been identified. Significant effort has been expended in the synthesis and structure-activity-relationship (SAR) studies of these compounds with the hope that a new drug will emerge. This review will highlight important contributions to the isolation, synthesis, SAR and mechanism of action of the phenanthroindolizidine and pheanthroquinolizidine alkaloids.

Total synthesis of (S)-(+)-tylophorine via enantioselective intramolecular alkene carboamination

The enantioselective synthesis of (S)-(+)-tylophorine, a potent cancer cell growth inhibitor, has been accomplished in eight steps from commercially available 3,4-dimethoxybenzyl alcohol. A copper (II)-catalyzed enantioselective intramolecular alkene carboamination was employed as the key step to construct the chiral indolizidine ring.

Total synthesis of phenanthroindolizidine alkaloids (+/-)-antofine, (+/-)-deoxypergularinine, and their dehydro congeners and evaluation of their cytotoxic activity

Due to their limited natural abundance and significant biochemical effects, we synthesized the alkaloids (+/-)-antofine (1a), (+/-)-deoxypergularinine (1b), and their dehydro congeners (2 and 3) starting from the corresponding phenanthrene-9-carboxaldehydes. We also evaluated their in vitro cytotoxic activity. Compounds 1a and 1b showed significant potency against various human tumor cell lines, including a drug-resistant variant, with EC(50) values ranging from 0.16 to 16ng/mL. Structure-activity correlations of these alkaloids and some of their synthetic intermediates were also ascertained. The non-planar structure between the two major moieties, phenanthrene and indolizidine, plays a crucial role in the cytotoxic activity of phenanthroindolizidines. Increasing the planarity and rigidity of the indolizidine moiety significantly reduced potency. A methoxy group at the 2-position (1a) was more favorable for cytotoxic activity than a hydrogen atom (1b).

Synthesis and structure–activity studies of antofine analogues as potential anticancer agents

Due to the profound cytotoxicities and interesting biochemical aspects, phenanthroindolizidine alkaloids have received an attention as potential therapeutic leads. To define the features of the molecule that are essential for cytotoxicity, we have synthesized and evaluated a series of phenanthroindolizidine alkaloid, antofine, analogues with different substituents on the phenanthrene ring. The systematic structure activity relationship studies elucidate the essential functional group requirement of phenanthrene ring, providing the basis for further development of phenanthroindolizidine alkaloids.