title: Structure-cytotoxicity relationships of a series of natural and semi-synthetic simple coumarins as assessed in two human tumour cell lines.
abstract: The cytotoxicity of 22 natural and semi-synthetic simple coumarins was evaluated in GLC4, a human small cell lung carcinoma cell line, and in COLO 320, a human colorectal cancer cell line, using the microculture tetrazolium (MTT) assay. With IC50 values > 100 microM, following a continuous (96 h) incubation, most coumarins exhibited only low cytotoxicity. Several compounds, however, displayed significant potencies. As far as the structure--cytotoxicity relationship is concerned, it is conspicuous that all the potentially active natural compounds possess at least two phenolic groups in either the 6,7- or 6,8-positions. In addition, the 5-formyl-6-hydroxy substituted semi-synthetic analogue was found to be potent, reflecting the importance of at least two polar functions for high cytotoxicity.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Pharmazie II, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kolodziej
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Kayser
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Woerdenbag
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: van Uden
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pras
mesh_terms: D018288:Carcinoma, Small Cell; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms; D003374:Coumarins / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000633:toxicity*; D004354:Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms; D010944:Plants; D012603:Scopoletin / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000633:toxicity; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D003374:Coumarins; D012603:Scopoletin