Cryptolepine, neocryptolepine and isocryptolepine are naturally occurring indoloquinoline alkaloids with various spectrum of biological properties. Structural modification is an extremely effective means to improve their bioactivities. This review enumerates several neocryptolepine and isocryptolepine analogues with potent antiproliferative activity against MV4-11 (leukemia), A549 (lung cancer), HCT116 (colon cancer) cell lines in vitro. Its activity towards normal mouse fibroblasts BALB/3T3 was also evaluated. Furthermore, structure activity relationships (SAR) are briefly discussed. The anticancer screening of neocryptolepine derivatives was performed in order to determine their cytotoxic and growth inhibitory activities across the JFCR39 cancer cell line panel.
Keywords: antiproliferative activity; cryptolepine; isocryptolepine; neocryptolepine; structure activity relationships.