Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

UCN-01 Anticancer Drug

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Cancer

  • 62 Accesses

Synonyms

7-Hydroxystaurosporine; NSC-638850

Definition

UCN-01 is an indolocarbazole compound originally isolated from Streptomyces spec. 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.

Fig. 1
figure 1

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

Full size image

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

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

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fuse E, Kuwabara T, Sparreboom A et al (2005) Review of UCN-01 development: a lesson in the importance of clinical pharmacology. J Clin Pharmacol 45:394–403

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kawabe T (2004) G2 checkpoint abrogators as anticancer drugs. Mol Cancer Ther 3:513–519

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vogel C, Hager C, Bastians H (2007) Mechanisms of mitotic cell death induced by chemotherapy mediated G2 checkpoint abrogation. Cancer Res 67:339–345

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

See Also

  • (2012) CHK1. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of cancer, 3rd edn. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg, p 817. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_1101

    Google Scholar 

  • (2012) DNA replication. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of cancer, 3rd edn. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg, p 1141. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_1690

    Google Scholar 

  • (2012) G2 checkpoint abrogation. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of cancer, 3rd edn. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg, p 1484. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_2293

    Google Scholar 

  • (2012) P53. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of cancer, 3rd edn. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg, p 2747. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_4331

    Google Scholar 

  • (2012) PDK1. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of cancer, 3rd edn. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg, p 2804. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_4426

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Abt. Molekulare Onkologie, Universitätsmedizin Göttingen, Grisebachstr. 8, Göttingen, 37077, Germany

    Holger Bastians

Authors
  1. Holger Bastians
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Holger Bastians .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Abt. Tumorgenetik, Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, Heidelberg, Germany

    Manfred Schwab

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this entry

Cite this entry

Bastians, H. (2012). UCN-01 Anticancer Drug. In: Schwab, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Cancer. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27841-9_6091-2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27841-9_6091-2

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27841-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation