Pharmaceutical Analytical Chemistry: Open Access
Open Access
ISSN: 2471-2698
+44 1478 350008
ISSN: 2471-2698
+44 1478 350008
Commentary - (2022)Volume 7, Issue 4
The organic chemical compounds in which one or all of the atoms in their molecules are connected in rings. They contain at least one atom of an element other than carbon (C). The cyclic component of heterocyclic denotes that the compound has at least one ring structure. The prefix hetero is from Greek heteros, meaning "other" and refers to the ring's noncarbon atoms or heteroatoms. Many biological materials required for life are heterocyclic molecules. Nucleic acids, for example, the chemical molecules that contain the genetic information that controls heredity, are made up of long chains of heterocyclic units joined together by other types of materials. Many naturally occurring pigments, vitamins, and antibiotics are heterocyclic compounds. Synthetic heterocycles are used in modern culture as medications, insecticides, pigments, and polymers. The most common heterocycles include five or six-membered rings and contain Nitrogen (N), Oxygen (O), or Sulfur (S) heteroatoms (S). Pyridine, pyrrole, furan, and thiophene are the most well-known simple heterocyclic compounds. A pyridine molecule has a ring of six atoms, five carbon atoms, and one nitrogen atom. Pyrrole, furan, and thiophene molecules all have five-membered rings made up of four carbon atoms and one nitrogen, oxygen, or sulfur atom [1].
Heterocyclic compounds are important structural components of many anti-cancer medications on the market today. Indeed, nearly two-thirds of the innovative molecular anti-cancer drugs authorized by the FDA between 2010 and 2015 had heterocyclic rings inside their structures [2]. Their popularity in anti-cancer drug design can be attributed in part to their abundance in nature, with a wide range of cellular processes and mechanisms developing the capacity to interact with them. Because of their adaptability, heterocyclic-based medicines can target a wide range of metabolic pathways and cellular processes in cancer pathology. Even though heterocycles are so common in nature, they have proven crucial in the development of anti-cancer drugs. Heterocycle-based compounds represent an extraordinarily huge cohort of molecules with an unparalleled amount of flexibility in terms of interactions [3].
Many enzyme binding pockets prefer to engage with heterocyclic compounds, heterocycles are good at building compounds that will interact with targets and disrupt the biological processes linked with cancer growth [4]. Such anti-cancer treatments frequently target cell growth and development pathways. Nitrogen-based heterocycles are especially important in anticancer medication development. They represent nearly threequarters of the heterocyclic anticancer medicines authorized by the FDA between 2010 and 2015. Indoles are among the most useful nitrogen heterocycles, with research demonstrating their capacity to activate cell death in a variety of cancer cell lines.
Indole and its derivatives have been found to affect a variety of biological pathways involved in cancer progression throughout the last few decades. These include the capacity to inhibit cell signaling, normal cell cycle progression, tumor vascularisation, DNA repair, and generate cellular oxidative stress and cell death. Vincristine and vinblastine are two of the most significant early indole-based anticancer medicines, having been recognized for their tubulin polymerization inhibition since the early-mid 1960s and are still clinically relevant today [5].
Many anti-cancer medications also contain oxygen-containing heterocycles. Paclitaxel, one of the first drugs identified, is important in cancer treatment. Its mode of action is based on the depolymerization of microtubule polymers, resulting in the suppression of mitotic progression in cancer cells. The mode of action of vinblastine is that it delays the cancer cell division, eventually stopping cancer in its tracks. Despite its advantages, the medicine has several systemic side effects, including hypersensitivity, hematological difficulties, and neurotoxicity. As a result, much effort has been invested in developing alternative medicines that have fewer side effects while retaining the significant therapeutic potential of paclitaxel. Microtubule inhibitors cabazitaxel and eribulin, which are used to treat prostate and metastatic breast cancer, are two more recently discovered oxygen-containing heterocyclic anti-cancer medicines. Sulfur is a major component of numerous vitamin cofactors, carbohydrates, and nucleic acids, and it regulates translation through the sulfuration of transfer RNA. Given the importance of sulfur in biological systems, sulfur-containing heterocycles, like their oxygen- and nitrogen-based counterparts, have attracted a lot of interest in the development of anti-cancer medications. In one recent investigation, thiophene derivatives were tested for antiproliferative activity against human breast cancer cells and a variety of compounds were discovered to have potent inhibitory effects.
The researchers stated that their findings might be used to develop future tyrosine kinase inhibitors with fewer negative effects. Heterocycles are extremely significant in anti-cancer drug development due to their abundance in nature as well as their structural and chemical variety. Their involvement in around two-thirds of the anticancer medications approved by the FDA in the first half of this decade indicates their significance in cancer research, with studies proving time and again the critical role they play in the fight against cancer.
Citation: Nikam Y (2022) Significance of Heterocyclic Compounds in Anti-Cancer Drugs. Pharm Anal Chem. 7:161.
Received: 09-Jun-2022, Manuscript No. PACO-22-18814; Editor assigned: 14-Jun-2022, Pre QC No. PACO-22-18814 (PQ); Reviewed: 28-Jun-2022, QC No. PACO-22-18814; Revised: 05-Jul-2022, Manuscript No. PACO-22-18814 (R); Published: 12-Jul-2022 , DOI: 10.35248/2471-2698.22.7.161
Copyright: © 2022 Nikam Y. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.