title: Anticancer activity of phenolic acids of natural or synthetic origin: a structure-activity study.
abstract: Several phenolic acids-caffeic and gallic acid derivatives-were synthesized and screened for their potential antiproliferative and cytotoxic properties, in different human cancer cell lines: mammary gland and cervix adenocarcinomas and lymphoblastic leukemia. The selected phenols were structurally related, which allowed us to gather important information regarding the structure-activity relationships underlying the biological activity of such compounds. This is proposed to be due to a balance between the antioxidant and pro-oxidant properties of this kind of agent. Distinct effects were found for different cell lines, which points to a significant specificity of action of the drugs tested. It was verified, for the types of cancer investigated, that the trihydroxylated derivatives yielded better results than the dihydroxylated ones. Tests in noncancerous cells, human lung fibroblasts, were also undertaken, in view of determining the toxic side effects of the compounds studied.
authors.affiliation: Research Unit "Molecular Physical-Chemistry", Biochemistry Department, and Centre for Neuroscience and Cellular Biology, University Coimbra, 3001-401 Coimbra, Portugal.
authors.forename: Catarina A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Gomes
authors.forename: Teresa Girão
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: da Cruz
authors.forename: José L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Andrade
authors.forename: Nuno
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Milhazes
authors.forename: Fernanda
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Borges
authors.forename: M Paula M
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Marques
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000494:pharmacology; D001943:Breast Neoplasms; D002109:Caffeic Acids / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000494:pharmacology; D002455:Cell Division / Q000187:drug effects; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D004354:Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor; D005260:Female; D005707:Gallic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D007945:Leukemia, Lymphoid; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D010636:Phenols / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000494:pharmacology; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D002109:Caffeic Acids; D010636:Phenols; D005707:Gallic Acid