Modifications of actinomycin D structure as example of actinomycins structure-activity relationship

摘要

For over 60 years, actinomycins, well-known antibacterial and anticancer antibiotics, have been the subject of the scientific research. These compounds exhibit high toxicity and therefore are not widely used in the chemotherapeutic treatment of antibacterial and antifungal diseases. However, actinomycin D, the best-known compound from the actinomycin group, has been introduced into clinical practice as an anticancer drug. Actinomycin D, together with 7-amino-actinomycin D, also became a useful tool in biochemistry and molecular biology. The isolation, production, chemistry, and biological and clinical use of the actinomycins have been thoroughly investigated. Many derivatives of actinomycins, differing in chemical structure as well as biological activity, have been isolated and synthesized and their modifications involved not only the chromphoric phenoxazone ring, but also two cyclic pentapeptide lacton rings. Modifications of the actinomycins’ chromophore mainly concerned introducing an amino group in position 2 and a carbon atom in position 7, but also modifications in positions 4, 6, and 8 of the phenoxazone ring. The actinomycin peptide moiety was mainly modified by replacement of amino acids in the pentapeptide rings and also by the synthesis of actinomycin derivatives with open peptide lacton rings. These modifications enabled separating the elements in the actinomycin structure which are responsible for the biological activity of these compounds. That was key information for recognizing the performance of these compounds, and an important way of planning effective new chemotherapeutics.