title: Antivitamins for Medicinal Applications.
abstract: Antivitamins represent a broad class of compounds that counteract the essential effects of vitamins. The symptoms triggered by such antinutritional factors resemble those of vitamin deficiencies, but can be successfully reversed by treating patients with the intact vitamin. Despite being undesirable for healthy organisms, the toxicities of these compounds present considerable interest for biological and medicinal purposes. Indeed, antivitamins played fundamental roles in the development of pioneering antibiotic and antiproliferative drugs, such as prontosil and aminopterin. Their development and optimisation were made possible by the study, throughout the 20th century, of the vitamins' and antivitamins' functions in metabolic processes. However, even with this thorough knowledge, commercialised antivitamin-based drugs are still nowadays limited to antagonists of vitamins B9 and K. The antivitamin field thus still needs to be explored more intensely, in view of the outstanding therapeutic success exhibited by several antivitamin-based medicines. Here we summarise historical achievements and discuss critically recent developments, opportunities and potential limitations of the antivitamin approach, with a special focus on antivitamins K, B9 and B12 .
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemistry, University of Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zürich (Switzerland). felix.zelder@chem.uzh.ch.
authors.forename: Felix
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zelder
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemistry, University of Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zürich (Switzerland).
authors.forename: Marjorie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sonnay
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemistry, University of Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zürich (Switzerland).
authors.forename: Lucas
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Prieto
mesh_terms: D015110:4-Hydroxycoumarins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D000925:Anticoagulants / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000188:drug therapy; D055808:Drug Discovery; D005492:Folic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D005493:Folic Acid Antagonists / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D007192:Indenes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy; D014805:Vitamin B 12 / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000378:metabolism; D014812:Vitamin K / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D014815:Vitamins / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D015110:4-Hydroxycoumarins; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D000925:Anticoagulants; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D005493:Folic Acid Antagonists; D007192:Indenes; D014815:Vitamins; C011664:antivitamins K; D014812:Vitamin K; D005492:Folic Acid; D014805:Vitamin B 12
keywords: antivitamins; drugs; enzyme inhibitors; medicinal chemistry; vitamins