Naphthoquinone Derivatives from Angustimassarina populi CF-097565 Display Anti-Tumour Activity in 3D Cultures of Breast Cancer Cells.
January 16, 2024
Despite the advances in immunotherapy and other targeted therapies to treat cancer, aggressive tumors can acquire resistance and spread, which leads to millions of deaths every year. Two challenges for the development of efficient therapies are the limited chemical spectra of synthetic drugs and the lack of precise preclinical models for drug discovery. The implementation of tumor 3D models (spheroids) that mimic cancer physiology in vitro, combined with the use of microbial natural products with vast chemical diversity, enables the development of next generation drug discovery platforms. Utilizing such platform, we have recently identified natural products derived from the fungus Angustimassarina populi CF-097565 with specific antitumoral activity on 3D models of luminal breast cancer. The natural products include two herbarins, and two novel naphthoquinone derivatives, which had not described to date. The study also shows differential cytotoxicity of the compounds on 3D tumors compared to 2D cultures, which highlights the spheroids as a fundamental tool for drug discovery.
