Natural product extracts of plant and marine origin having antileukemia potential. The NCI experience.
While effective treatments exist for acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), particularly in the case of children, and for chronic mylogenous leukemia (CML), more efficacious treatments for other forms of acute and chronic forms of the disease are still needed. The National Cancer Institute has tested over 90,000 extracts of terrestrial plants and marine plants and invertebrates in its human cancer one-dose/60-cell-line prescreen, and the results for plants and marine organisms meeting criteria established for activity against selected leukemia cell lines are presented. Taxonomic data are limited to family and genus in the case of plants, and phylum for marine organisms, and those groups of organisms exhibiting significant activity (so-called "hot" families and genera) are discussed. The "hot" terrestrial plant families Myrsinaceae and Sapindaceae have not been studied to any extent and appear to merit special attention, although leukemia cell line selectivity is also noted for other families.
Natural Products Branch, Developmental Therapeutics Program, Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis, National Cancer Institute, NCI-Frederick, Maryland 21702-1201, USA.
Gordon M
GM
Cragg
David J
DJ
Newman
Stringner S
SS
Yang
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007938:Leukemia / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008386:Marine Biology; D009316:National Institutes of Health (U.S.); D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014481:United States
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D010936:Plant Extracts