Synthesis of cytotoxic novel 9,11-secosterol analogs: Structure/activity studies

In an effort to determine the pharmaceutical utility and the structural requirements for activity against tumor cell lines, 30 novel 9,11-secosterol analogues with different side chains and degrees of oxidation at C-9 were synthesized starting from hecogenin. Evaluation of the synthesized compounds for cytotoxicity against KB, HeLa and MCF-7 cell lines revealed that some important structural features are required for activity. The presence of a cholesterol-type side chain, which appears to play a major role in determining the biological activity, the existence of a ketone functional at C-9 is also crucial for anticancer activity whereas hydroxyl/ketone function at C-22 on the side chain did not increase cytotoxicity.