Synthesis and evaluation of effective photoaffinity probe molecule of furospinosulin-1, a hypoxia-selective growth inhibitor

The synthesis and evaluation of a photoaffinity probe molecule for furospinosulin-1, a hypoxia-selective growth inhibitor that we identified from marine sponge, was studied. An analogue carrying an alkyne tail showed potent hypoxia-selective inhibitory activity exceeding that of the parent molecule, and exhibited in vivo anti-tumor activity following oral administration. The alkyne moiety in the analogue was also found to be a good anchoring group for the preparation of probe molecules; a photoaffinity probe molecule having an optimized spacer length was selected through the systematic synthesis of several probes and the evaluation of their hypoxia-selective growth inhibitory activity and electrophoretic mobility shift properties.