Naturally Derived Compounds

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Summary Cancer is a leading cause of human death worldwide, accounting for nearly 8 million human deaths per year. Treatments including conventional chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and immunotherapy have improved cancer survival, yet resistance to current drugs arises frequently. By using naturally occurring compounds with known pharmacological activity as starting points, and modifying these compounds with advanced medicinal chemistry techniques, Dr. Huang has taken advantage of both evolution and modern scientific insights to create anti-cancer compounds with improved efficacy and reduced toxicity. Most cancer cells have defects in the p53 tumor-suppressor pathway and mutations in the p53 gene correlate with resistance to many widely used chemotherapeutic agents, underscoring the need for new cancer treatments that do not rely on the p53 pathway. Dr. Huang has developed a novel class of naturally-derived heterocyclo compounds that exhibit potent p53-independent anticancer properties. Because these compounds kill cancer cells without relying on p53, they are effective against cancers that have acquired defects in the p53 pathway. Furthermore, these compounds may reduce overall toxicity during combination-chemotherapy by mediating growth arrest of normal cells via p53/p21-dependant pathways, thus providing protection from drugs that target rapidly cell division. Dr. Huang has demonstrated the effectiveness of these compounds using cell-based models of colon and bladder cancer and his research highlights the potential of this novel class of compound to treat patients with a wide range of cancers who may be refractory to currently available treatments.