Etoposide derives from podophyllotoxin, a toxin found in the American Mayapple. It was first synthesized in 1966 and approved for cancer therapy in 1983 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (Hande, 1998[25]). Starting from 1980s several studies demonstrated that etoposide targets DNA topoisomerase II activities thus leading to the production of DNA breaks and eliciting a response that affec...

OBJECTIVE The aim of the present review is to give an overview about the role, biosynthesis, and characteristics of Podophyllotoxin (PTOX) as a potential antitumor agent with particular emphasis on key biosynthesis processes, function of related enzymes and characterization of genes encoding the enzymes. MATERIALS AND METHODS Google scholar, PubMed and Scopus were searched for literatures whi...

The crude drug, podophyUin, which is derived from the May-apple root, has been used for many years as a cathartic agent. The carcinoclastic action and effectiveness of this material against condylomata acuminata (venereal warts) have only recently been described. Kaplan (1) and subsequent workers (2-7) produced involution of condylomata acuminata by the local application of a suspension of podo...

The injection of podophyllotoxin, colchicine, and a nitrogen mustard derivative, methyl-bis(beta-chloroethyl)amine, into normal animals causes a reduction of the respiration of the lymphatic tissues, spleen, and/or thymus. No effect was demonstrable on kidney, a representative tissue of non-lymphatic origin. The degree of inhibition was considerably less in suprarenalectomized animals, suggesti...

A series of novel podophyllotoxin (PDT) analogues was synthesized in which the lactone moiety was shifted to C ring. Some of the derivatives were also synthesized with modified A ring. Analogues 23 and 25 exhibited potent in vitro cytotoxicity against colon cancer (CaCO(2)) cell line. p-Demethylated E-ring analogues exhibited better potency than the corresponding methylated analogues. These ana...

The percentage of podophyllotoxin (PTOX) and its congener lignans were measured by HPLC in Linum mucronatum ssp. mucronatum (Linaceae) fresh plant organs. The highest amounts of PTOX (0.595 +/- 0.060% g/g dry wt) and 6-methoxypodophyllotoxin (MPTOX) (1.491 +/- 0.125% g/g dry wt) were found in the plant sexual organs. Whereas, the highest levels of beta-peltatin, 5'-demethoxy-MPTOX and yatein we...