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UCN-01 Anticancer Drug

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Encyclopedia of Cancer

Synonyms

7-hydroxystaurosporine; NSC 638850

Definition

UCN-01 is an indolocarbazole compound originally isolated from Streptomyces sp cultures, similar to staurosporine, but with an additional hydroxy group on the lactam ring (Fig. 1). It acts as an ATP competitive inhibitor targeting several kinases including protein kinase C (PKC), cyclin dependent kinases, and Chk1 and shows high preclinical and clinical antitumor activity. UCN-01 can abrogate DNA damage–induced cell cycle arrest in S and G2 phases of the cell cycle and thereby sensitize tumor cells to DNA damage–induced toxicity. Currently, several phase I/II clinical trials explore UCN-01 as a stand-alone therapy or in combination with various DNA damaging chemotherapeutic drugs.

UCN-01 Anticancer Drug. Fig. 1
figure 212 figure 212

The structure of UCN-01. UCN-01 is an indolocarbazole compound and derivative of staurosporine with an additional hydroxy group on the lactam ring

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References

  1. Eastman A (2004) Cell cycle checkpoints and their impact on anticancer therapeutic strategies. J Cell Biochem 91:223–231

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Philipps University Marburg, Institute for Molecular Biology and Tumor Research (IMT), Marburg, Germany

    Holger Bastians

Authors
  1. Holger Bastians
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Holger Bastians .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University Professor of Genetics, German Cancer Research Center - DKFZ, Heidelberg, Germany

    Manfred Schwab

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© 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Bastians, H. (2011). UCN-01 Anticancer Drug. In: Schwab, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Cancer. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_6091

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