Roles of Pyridine and Pyrimidine Derivatives as Privileged Scaffolds in Anticancer Agents.
BACKGROUND
Cancer has been considered to be a global health concern due to the impact of disease on the quality of life. The continual increase of cancer cases as well as the resistance of cancer cells to the existing drugs have driven the search for novel anticancer drugs with better potency and selectivity, improved pharmacokinetic profiles, and minimum toxicities. Pyridine and pyrimidine are presented in natural products and genetic materials. These pyridine/pyrimidine core structures have been noted for their roles in many biological processes as well as in cancer pathogenesis, which make such compounds become attractive scaffolds for discovery of novel drugs.


CONCLUSIONS
In the recent years, pyridine- and pyrimidine-based anticancer drugs have been developed based on structural modification of these core structures (i.e., substitution with moieties and rings, conjugation with other compounds, and coordination with metal ions). Detailed discussion is provided in this review to highlight the potential of these small molecules as privileged scaffolds with attractive properties and biological activities for the search of novel anticancer agents.
Center of Data Mining and Biomedical Informatics, Faculty of Medical Technology, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10700, Thailand.
Supaluk
S
Prachayasittikul
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Srinakharinwirot University, Bangkok 10110, Thailand.
Ratchanok
R
Pingaew
Center of Data Mining and Biomedical Informatics, Faculty of Medical Technology, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10700, Thailand.
Apilak
A
Worachartcheewan
Department of Clinical Microbiology and Applied Technology, Faculty of Medical Technology, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10700, Thailand.
Nujarin
N
Sinthupoom
Department of Clinical Microbiology and Applied Technology, Faculty of Medical Technology, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10700, Thailand.
Veda
V
Prachayasittikul
Laboratory of Medicinal Chemistry, Chulabhorn Research Institute, and Program in Chemical Biology, Chulabhorn Graduate Institute, Bangkok 10210, Thailand.
Somsak
S
Ruchirawat
Department of Clinical Microbiology and Applied Technology, Faculty of Medical Technology, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10700, Thailand.
Virapong
V
Prachayasittikul
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000633:toxicity; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D004249:DNA Damage / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D011725:Pyridines / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000633:toxicity; D011743:Pyrimidines / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000633:toxicity; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D011725:Pyridines; D011743:Pyrimidines
Anticancer agents; cancer; fused-pyridine/pyrimidine; metal-based pyridine/pyrimidine; pyridine; pyrimidine