Book Review pubs.acs.org/jnp
Review of Anticancer Agents from Natural Products A. Douglas Kinghorn
Anticancer Agents from Natural Products, 2nd Edition. Edited by Gordon M. Cragg (U.S. National Cancer Institute), David G. I. Kingston (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University), and David M. Newman (U.S. National Cancer Institute). CRC Press/Taylor & Francis Group: Boca Raton, FL. 2012. xv + 751 pp. 16 × 26 cm. $179.96. ISBN 978-1-43981382-9.
■
The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Notes
The author declares no competing financial interest.
Downloaded by UNIV OF MANITOBA on September 10, 2015 | http://pubs.acs.org Publication Date (Web): September 10, 2015 | doi: 10.1021/acs.jnatprod.5b00617
T
he Second Edition of Anticancer Agents f rom Natural Products maintains the extremely high standards of the first edition that appeared in 2005, as reviewed in this journal (J. Nat. Prod. 2006, 69, 860−861). Over the past few years, a comparatively large number of anticancer agents of natural product origin have been brought to the market, so this expanded and updated volume is of very high relevance to members of the biomedical research community. Examples of approved agents new to this edition are cabazitaxel, eribulin, ixabepilone, and vinflunine. Altogether, there are 26 chapters in this new edition, written by over 50 authors, of whom many are internationally renowned. For this second edition, the contributions have been revised either by the original authors or by the editors. The chapters are organized into plant-derived compounds [camptothecins, combretastatins, homoharringtonine and its derivatives, podophyllotoxins, Taxol (paclitaxel) analogues, and bisindole (Vinca) alkaloids], substances of marine origin [bryostatins, cryptophycins, discodermolides, dolastatins, ecteinascidin-743 (Yondelis; discussed in the same chapter as Aplidin and Irvalec), E7389 (from halichondrin B), and HTI286 (taltobulin; from hemiasterlin)], and derivatives of terrestrial microbial origin [actinomycins, anthracyclines, ansamitocins (maytansinoids), benzoquinone ansamycins, bleomycin analogues, (+)-CC-1065 and related antitumor antibiotics, epothilone, enediynes, mitomycins, and staurosporines and some related indolocarbazoles]. There are two final chapters on combinatorial biosynthesis of anticancer natural products and future trends, with the latter including a helpful table listing the date of introduction of all approved anticancer agents from 1940 to 2010. Each chapter is written in a fairly standardized manner, covering aspects such as natural sources, semisynthesis, total synthesis, biological activity, structure− activity studies, and clinical aspects, with usually an extensive reference section. A detailed subject index is included at the end of the book. This volume is remarkably free of typographical errors. The volume editors mention in the introductory chapter that work on many of the compounds described was supported through the resources of the U.S. National Cancer Institute. They also hope that this volume will “serve as an inspiration and a challenge to a new generation of scientists to engage in developing new and even better drugs from nature’s bounty”. The authors and editors of this second edition deserve heartfelt congratulations for compiling such an informative and inspiring volume, which serves as a major addition to the natural products literature. © XXXX American Chemical Society and American Society of Pharmacognosy
A
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jnatprod.5b00617 J. Nat. Prod. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX
