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Competitive Agricultural Systems in a Global Economy
Cancer Compounds in Desert Plants
Issue
Scientists at the Office of Arid Lands Studies' Southwestern Center
for Natural Products Research and Commercialization (SCNPRC) in the
University of Arizona's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences are
working with other universities, with pharmaceutical companies and with
other commercial entities to develop new biological and industrial products.
The ultimate goal of this collaborative research program is to locate
specialty chemicals in indigenous desert plants that can be grown as
industrial cash crop and microorganisms that can be used to produce
pharmaceuticals. Substances active against cancer are in particular
demand.
What has been done?
The SCNPRC team selects plants, evaluates them chemically, tests products,
performs biological assays, and determines how to grow and process plants
on a commercial scale. In plants, active compounds may be located in
the roots, shoots, leaves, flowers or seeds, and in microorganisms these
may be intracellular or extracellular. In the case of pharmaceutically
active ingredients, those showing particular promise will progress into
preclinical, then clinical testing for efficacy. In 1999, after examining
several thousand desert plant species over the past seven years, a natural
products scientist and his team found two substances so promising for
pharmaceutical use that the original patents were formally revised and
submitted as full patents for both U.S. and international coverage.
One has topical activity against skin cancer and is now demonstrating
other potential pharmaceutical uses. This collaborative group is now
studying the impact of the other compound on the current testing model
for new anti-cancer drugs. They are also pursuing other plant- and microorganism-derived
leads, including several more that are in the pipeline for in vivo testing.
Impact
The material that has been pursued the most extensively resulted in
a new patent filed in May 1999 and an international patent filed in
October 1999. This research has been pursued as a collaborative and
multi-institutional project that ultimately could have a significant
impact on the treatment and prevention of topical tumors, as well as
other biological uses. Two compounds isolated from Sonoran desert microorganisms
are currently undergoing animal studies. This is part of an ongoing
effort to find unique applications from desert plants with development
at the same time to allow for conservation and maintenance of the delicate
desert ecosystem.
Funding
Arizona Agricultural Experiment Station–Natural Products Center
Arizona Disease Control Research Commission
Public Health Funding from NIH and NCI
Department of Defense Prostate Cancer Program
American Institute for Cancer Research
Contact
Leslie Gunatilaka
SW Center for Natural Products
Research and Commercialization
The University of Arizona
250 E. Valencia Road
Tucson, AZ 85706
Tel.: (520) 741-1691
FAX: (520) 741-1468
Email: leslieg@ag.arizona.edu
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