Synthesis of EF24-tripeptide chloromethyl ketone: a novel curcumin-related anticancer drug delivery system

J Med Chem. 2006 Jun 1;49(11):3153-8. doi: 10.1021/jm051141k.

Abstract

The blood coagulation cascade includes a step in which the soluble protein, factor VIIa (fVIIa), complexes with its transmembrane receptor, tissue factor (TF). The fVIIa/TF protein-protein complex is subsequently drawn into the cell by endocytosis. The observation that TF is aberrantly and abundantly expressed on many cancer cells offers an opportunity to specifically target those cells with an effective anticancer drug. Thus, we propose a new drug delivery system, drug-linker-Phe-Phe-Arg-mk-fVIIa, which can associate with TF on the surface of cancer cells, but release the cytotoxic agent in the cytoplasm. Synthetic procedures have been developed for the preparation of phenylalanine-phenylalanine-arginine chloromethyl ketone, (FFRck) followed by coupling with the cytotoxin EF24 and subsequently fVIIa to give EF-24-FFRmk-fVIIa. When breast cancer cells (MDA-MB-231) and human melanoma cells (RPMI-7951) are treated with the complex, the cells are arrested to a greater extent than EF24 alone by comparison with controls.

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Chloromethyl Ketones / chemistry*
  • Antineoplastic Agents / chemical synthesis*
  • Antineoplastic Agents / chemistry
  • Antineoplastic Agents / pharmacology
  • Apoptosis
  • Cell Cycle / drug effects
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Cell Proliferation / drug effects
  • Curcumin / analogs & derivatives*
  • Curcumin / chemical synthesis*
  • Curcumin / chemistry
  • Curcumin / pharmacology
  • Drug Delivery Systems
  • Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor
  • Factor VIIa / chemistry*
  • Humans
  • Models, Molecular
  • Oxidation-Reduction
  • Thromboplastin / metabolism

Substances

  • Amino Acid Chloromethyl Ketones
  • Antineoplastic Agents
  • phenylalanyl-phenylalanyl-arginine chloromethyl ketone
  • Thromboplastin
  • Factor VIIa
  • Curcumin