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Non-Alkaloid Natural Products as Anticancer Agents

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Cancer Management in Man

Part of the book series: Cancer Growth and Progression ((CAGP,volume 10))

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Abstract

Crude natural products have been used in the treatment of cancer since ancient times, but it is only in the last 30 years that serious scientific study of naturally occurring anticancer agents has been carried out. This work has resulted in the discovery of numerous antibiotics and alkaloids as effective clinically active anticancer agents, and these substances are discussed in other chapters of this volume. Large numbers of non-alkaloidal natural products have been discovered which have had promising activities in animal trials, but only a few of these compounds have shown clincial activity to date. The most useful compounds in this class are the podophyllotoxin derivatives VP16-213 (etoposide) and VM26 (teniposide), which have been the subject of extensive clinical studies and are now entering normal clinical practice. The bulk of this chapter is thus given over to a discussion of these two drugs, but later sections deal with some newer compounds which are still in development but which are candidates for clinical use in the future.

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Authors
  1. David G. I. Kingston
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Oncology, Vincent T. Lombardi Cancer Research Center, Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, D.C., USA

    Paul V. Woolley

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© 1989 Kluwer Academic Publishers

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Kingston, D.G.I. (1989). Non-Alkaloid Natural Products as Anticancer Agents. In: Woolley, P.V. (eds) Cancer Management in Man. Cancer Growth and Progression, vol 10. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1095-9_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1095-9_14

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-6983-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-1095-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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