Page 20 - Drug Discovery and Development: Prospects and Challenges

10 / Drug Discovery and Development: Prospects and Challenges

extracted from their root barks. Overall, the Ophiorrhiza species possess
a wide range of biological activities and phytochemical constituents, as
shown in Figure 8 (Krishnan et al., 2014; Midhu et al., 2019; Taher et
al., 2020).

Figure 8: Summary of the biological activities and phytochemicals
compounds in Ophiorrhiza species

Campthothecin was originally found in the Chinese tree Camptotheca
acuminata, which was later found in several Ophiorrhiza species, such as
O. mungos, O. mungos var. angustifolia, and O. rugosa var. decumbens.
Due to its limited water solubility and significant toxicity during the
S-phase of the cell cycle that can result in normal cell death, clinical
studies on camptothecin were unsuccessful, which makes camptothecin
unable to penetrate the worldwide market (Li et al., 2017).
Nonetheless, the potential anti-cancer properties of camptothecin
have led researchers to develop several other camptothecin analogues,
such as topotecan (topotecan injection, Hycamtin and Potactasol ) for
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ovarian cancer that has spread to other parts of the body and irinotecan
(irinotecan injection, Camptosar ), which is used to treat colon cancer
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and small-cell lung cancer. These chemical analogues demonstrated
better DNA-topoisomerase-1 inhibitor activities and are well-tolerated
compared to the natural camptothecin.