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Accessing Anti-cancer Natural Products by Plant Cell Culture

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Natural Products and Cancer Drug Discovery

Part of the book series: Cancer Drug Discovery and Development ((CDD&D))

Abstract

Natural products are a valuable part of drug discovery and represent key products in the marketplace. High-throughput screening of large, synthetic libraries has become a commonplace method in industrial drug development, partially due to past difficulties in sourcing large quantities of natural products. Plants have historically been key sources of blockbuster anti-cancer drugs, and new approaches to drug discovery and large-scale manufacturing are making innovative plant-derived natural products more available commercially and clinically. This chapter explores the growing capabilities of combinatorial biosynthesis in plants as well as technological developments in industrial plant cell culture, highlighting the stories of the plant anti-cancer agents paclitaxel and cyclopamine.

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Abbreviations

BMS:

Bristol-Myers Squibb

CMCs:

Cambial meristematic cells

CRADA:

Cooperative Research and Development Agreement

CYP450:

Cytochrome P450 enzyme

DMAPP:

Dimethylallyl diphosphate

FDA:

Food and Drug Administration

HRC:

Hairy root culture

IPP:

Isopentenyl diphosphate

MIA:

Monoterpene indole alkaloid

NCI:

National Cancer Institute

NP:

Natural product

PCC:

Plant cell culture

PCSC:

Plant cell suspension culture

SM:

Secondary metabolite

USDA:

United States Department of Agriculture

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the support of grants from the National Science Foundation (CBET 0730779) and the National Institutes of Health (GM070852).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 686 North Pleasant Street, 159 Goessmann Laboratory, Amherst, MA, 01003, USA

    Lisa M. Leone & Susan C. Roberts

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  1. Lisa M. Leone
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  2. Susan C. Roberts
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Correspondence to Susan C. Roberts .

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  1. , Natural Products/World Wide Medicinal Ch, Pfizer Inc, 445 Eastern Point Road, Groton, 06340, Connecticut, USA

    Frank E. Koehn

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Leone, L.M., Roberts, S.C. (2013). Accessing Anti-cancer Natural Products by Plant Cell Culture. In: Koehn, F. (eds) Natural Products and Cancer Drug Discovery. Cancer Drug Discovery and Development. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4654-5_8

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