Synthesis of polyenylpyrrole derivatives with selective growth inhibitory activity against T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells

T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is a hardly curable disease with a high relapse rate. 20 analogs were synthesized based on the structures of two kinds of fungi-derived polyenylpyrrole products (rumbrin (1) and auxarconjugatin-B (2)) to suppress the growth of T-ALL-derived cell line CCRF-CEM and tested for growth-inhibiting activity. The octatetraenylpyrrole analog gave an IC50 of 0.27 mu M in CCRF-CEM cells, while it did not affect Burkitt lymphoma-derived cell line Raji and the cervical cancer cell line HeLa, or the oral cancer cell line HSC-3 (IC50 > 10 mu M). This compound will be a promising compound for developing T-ALL-specific drugs.

Automated summary

T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is a challenging disease to cure, but a synthesized octatetraenylpyrrole analog has shown promising growth-inhibiting activity specifically in T-ALL-derived cells, making it a potential candidate for developing targeted drugs.