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Semisynthetic Aurones: A Family Of Newly Discovered Tubulin Inhibitors As Antineoplastic Agents, Yanqi Xie

Theses and Dissertations--Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry

Aurones belong to an uncommon class of plant flavonoids that provide the bright yellow coloration of some ornamental flowers and that possess a range of biological activities. Structure-activity relationships (SAR) in the aurone pharmacophore identified heterocyclic variants of the (Z)-2-benzylidene-6-hydroxybenzofuran-3(2H)-one scaffold that possessed low nanomolar in vitro potency in cell proliferation assays using various cancer cell lines, in vivo potency in prostate cancer PC-3 xenograft and zebrafish models, selectivity for the colchicine-binding site on tubulin, and absence of appreciable toxicity. Among the biologically active analogs developed in the course of this dissertation work were (Z …