Evidence map›Paper›PMID 21850491›Full record

ArticleInvestigational new drugs2012

Enhancing the anti-lymphoma potential of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine ('ecstasy') through iterative chemical redesign: mechanisms and pathways to cell death.

Agata M Wasik, Michael N Gandy, Matthew McIldowie, Michelle J Holder, Anita Chamba, Anita Challa, Katie D Lewis, Stephen P Young, Dagmar Scheel-Toellner, Martin J Dyer and 3 more

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In one paragraph

Article in Investigational new drugs, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
0.5field-weighted citation impact, top 33% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed, 26 citations in OpenAlex.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

13 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

Agata M WasikSchool of Immunity & Infection, The Medical School, Birmingham, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK.
Michael N Gandy
Matthew McIldowie
Michelle J Holder
Anita Chamba
Anita Challa
Katie D Lewis
Stephen P Young
Dagmar Scheel-Toellner
Martin J Dyer
Nicholas M Barnes
Matthew J Piggott
John Gordon
University of Birmingham · GBUniversity of Western Australia · AUMedical Research Council · GB

Funding

Arthritis Research UKMedical Research Council MC_U132670597
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

While 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA/'ecstasy') is cytostatic towards lymphoma cells in vitro, the concentrations required militate against its translation directly to a therapeutic in vivo. The possibility of 'redesigning the designer drug', separating desired anti-lymphoma activity from unwanted psychoactivity and neurotoxicity, was therefore mooted. From an initial analysis of MDMA analogues synthesized with a modified α-substituent, it was found that incorporating a phenyl group increased potency against sensitive, Bcl-2-deplete, Burkitt's lymphoma (BL) cells 10-fold relative to MDMA. From this lead, related analogs were synthesized with the 'best' compounds (containing 1- and 2-naphthyl and para-biphenyl substituents) some 100-fold more potent than MDMA versus the BL target. When assessed against derived lines from a diversity of B-cell tumors MDMA analogues were seen to impact the broad spectrum of malignancy. Expressing a BCL2 transgene in BL cells afforded only scant protection against the analogues and across the malignancies no significant correlation between constitutive Bcl-2 levels and sensitivity to compounds was observed. Bcl-2-deplete cells displayed hallmarks of apoptotic death in response to the analogues while BCL2 overexpressing equivalents died in a caspase-3-independent manner. Despite lymphoma cells expressing monoamine transporters, their pharmacological blockade failed to reverse the anti-lymphoma actions of the analogues studied. Neither did reactive oxygen species account for ensuing cell death. Enhanced cytotoxic performance did however track with predicted lipophilicity amongst the designed compounds. In conclusion, MDMA analogues have been discovered with enhanced cytotoxic efficacy against lymphoma subtypes amongst which high-level Bcl-2--often a barrier to drug performance for this indication--fails to protect.

Indexed as

Drug DesignSignal TransductionB-LymphocytesBurkitt LymphomaCell DeathCell Line, TumorHumansN-Methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamineProto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2N-Methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamineProto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2

Identifiers

PMID21850491
OpenAlexW2137052872

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.