Cannabinoid Quinones-A Review and Novel Observations

• Published in: Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2021-03, Vol.26 (6), p.1761
• Main Authors: Kogan, Natalya M, Peters, Maximilian, Mechoulam, Raphael
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; anti-cancer; Cannabidiol - analogs & derivatives; Cannabidiol - chemistry; Cannabidiol - therapeutic use; cannabinoid; DNA Topoisomerases, Type II - metabolism; Humans; Mice; Mice, Nude; Neoplasm Proteins - antagonists & inhibitors; Neoplasm Proteins - metabolism; Neoplasms, Experimental - drug therapy; Neoplasms, Experimental - enzymology; Poly-ADP-Ribose Binding Proteins - antagonists & inhibitors; Poly-ADP-Ribose Binding Proteins - metabolism; quinones; Quinones - chemistry; Quinones - therapeutic use; structure-activity relationship; Topoisomerase II Inhibitors - chemistry; Topoisomerase II Inhibitors - therapeutic use
• ISSN: 1420-3049; 1420-3049
• DOI: 10.3390/molecules26061761

A cannabinoid anticancer para-quinone, HU-331, which was synthesized by our group five decades ago, was shown to have very high efficacy against human cancer cell lines in-vitro and against in-vivo grafts of human tumors in nude mice. The main mechanism was topoisomerase IIα catalytic inhibition. Later, several groups synthesized related compounds. In the present presentation, we review the publications on compounds synthesized on the basis of HU-331, summarize their published activities and mechanisms of action and report the synthesis and action of novel quinones, thus expanding the structure-activity relationship in these series.