title: Cantharidin as an antitumor agent: a retrospective review.
abstract: This review summarizes the progress that has been made recently in the medicinal chemistry of cantharidin, a potent antitumor agent from traditional Chinese medicine. Thousands of analogs have been synthesized on the basis of cantharidin, a part of which shows excellent properties, in particular, norcantharidin and norcantharimide. Despite the enormous efforts made, the intriguing bioactivities, mechanism, indications, and their interplay are still ill-defined. This review provides our up-to-date understanding in connection with the therapeutic use, mechanism, structure-activity relationship (SAR) and interesting properties of cantharidin analogs. Considerable development in the design of cantharidin analogs, in combination with mechanistic studies, has laid a foundation for transforming novel antitumor drugs into the clinic.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Institute, Shaoxing University, Shaoxing, Zhejiang 312000, China. wwdlp@126.com
authors.forename: L P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002193:Cantharidin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional / Q000639:trends; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D002193:Cantharidin