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• Singh, A
• Northcote, P
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• Singh, A
• Northcote, P
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• Miller, J
• Singh, A
• Northcote, P

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Mar. Drugs 2010, 8(4), 1059-1079; doi:10.3390/md8041059

Review

Microtubule-Stabilizing Drugs from Marine Sponges: Focus on Peloruside A and Zampanolide

John H. Miller ^1,* , A. Jonathan Singh ²  and Peter T. Northcote ²

¹ School of Biological Sciences and Centre for Biodiscovery, Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600, Wellington, New Zealand ² School of Chemical and Physical Sciences and Centre for Biodiscovery, Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600, Wellington, New Zealand

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received: 1 March 2010; in revised form: 13 March 2010 / Accepted: 29 March 2010 / Published: 31 March 2010

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioactive Compounds from Marine Sponges)

Download PDF Full-Text [405 KB, uploaded 31 March 2010 14:08 CEST]

Abstract: Marine sponges are an excellent source of bioactive secondary metabolites with potential therapeutic value in the treatment of diseases. One group of compounds of particular interest is the microtubule-stabilizing agents, the most well-known compound of this group being paclitaxel (Taxol^®), an anti-cancer compound isolated from the bark and leaves of the Pacific yew tree. This review focuses on two of the more recent additions to this important class of drugs, peloruside A and zampanolide, both isolated from marine sponges. Peloruside A was isolated from Mycale hentscheli collected in New Zealand coastal waters, and it already shows promising anti-cancer activity. Two other potent bioactive compounds with different modes of action but isolated from the same sponge, mycalamide A and pateamine, will also be discussed. The fourth compound, zampanolide, most recently isolated from the Tongan sponge Cacospongia mycofijiensis, has only recently been added to the microtubule-stabilizing group of compounds, and further work is in progress to determine its activity profile relative to peloruside A and other drugs of this class.

Keywords: mycalamide; pateamine; peloruside; zampanolide; microtubule stabilization

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