VITILEVUAMIDE

Source: The the ascidians Didemnum cuculiferum, Polysyncraton lithostrotum (CHORDATA)
Activity: Tubulin interactive agent
Status: Preclinical

Vitilevuamide is a bioactive cyclic peptide has been isolated from the ascidians Didemnum cuculiferum and Polysyncraton lithostrotum (the same animal is the source of the antimicrobial/antitumor compound namenamicin).

Vitilevuamide is one of several novel tubulin interactive agents recently discovered from marine invertebrate sources. Research on the mechanism of action of this two-ringed marine peptide reveal that vitilevuamide inhibit tubulin polymerization and can arrest the cell cycle of target cells in the G2/M phase. The drug exhibits activity in vivo against the P388 lymphocytic leukemia line. An intriguing finding is that tubulin binding and inhibition by this compound occurs at a site on the tubulin molecule distinct from the interaction sites of dolastatin 10, colchicine, and the vinca alkaloids.

Vitilevuamide is currently in the preclinical evaluation phase as a potential anti-cancer agent.

NCBI PubMed biomedical literature citations and abstracts - [ LINK ]

References

Edler MC, Fernandez AM, Lassota P, Ireland CM, and LR Barrows. 2002. Inhibition of tubulin polymerization by vitilevuamide, a bicyclic marine peptide, at a site distinct from colchicine, the vinca alkaloids, and dolastatin 10. Biochem. Pharmacol. 15:707-715.

Fernandez AM, He H, McDonald LA, Lassota P, Discafani Sorensen EF, Edler MC, Barrows LR, Clardy JC, and CM Ireland. 1998. Structural studies of marine peptides. Proceedings. 17th IUPAC Symposium on Photochemistry, Sitges, Barcelona, Spain, 19-24 July 1998.

Newman DJ, and GM Cragg. 2004. Advanced preclinical and clinical trials of natural products and related compounds from marine sources. Current Medicinal Chemistry 11:1693-1713.