Ascofuranone

Ascofuranone is an antibiotic that inhibits the Trypanosoma brucei alternative oxidase and is a lead compound in efforts to produce other drugs targeting this enzyme for the treatment of sleeping sickness.^[1] The compound is effective both in vitro cell culture and in infections in mice.^[2]

Ascofuranone has also been reported to have anti-tumor activity,^[3] and modulate the immune system.^[4]

References

↑ Minagawa N, Yabu Y, Kita K, Nagai K, Ohta N, Meguro K, Sakajo S, Yoshimoto A (1997). “An antibiotic, ascofuranone, specifically inhibits respiration and in vitro growth of long slender bloodstream forms of Trypanosoma brucei brucei”. Mol. Biochem. Parasitol. 84 (2): 271–80. PMID 9084049.
↑ Yabu Y, Yoshida A, Suzuki T, Nihei C, Kawai K, Minagawa N, Hosokawa T, Nagai K, Kita K, Ohta N (2003). “The efficacy of ascofuranone in a consecutive treatment on Trypanosoma brucei brucei in mice”. Parasitol. Int. 52 (2): 155–64. PMID 12798927.
↑ Magae J, Hayasaki J, Matsuda Y, Hotta M, Hosokawa T, Suzuki S, Nagai K, Ando K, Tamura G (1988). “Antitumor and antimetastatic activity of an antibiotic, ascofuranone, and activation of phagocytes”. J. Antibiot. 41 (7): 959–65. PMID 3417568.
↑ Magae J, Suzuki S, Nagai K, Yamasaki M, Ando K, Tamura G (1986). “In vitro effects of an antitumor antibiotic, ascofuranone, on the murine immune system”. Cancer Res. 46 (3): 1073–8. PMID 3080231.