Scaffold targeting drug-resistant colon cancers.

We have identified five derivatives of the natural product sansalvamide A that are potent against multiple drug-resistant colon cancer cell lines. These analogs share no structural homology to current colon cancer drugs, are cytotoxic at levels on par with existing drugs treating other cancers, and demonstrate selectivity for drug-resistant colon cancer cell lines over noncancerous cell lines. Thus, we have established sansalvamide A as a privileged structure for treating multiple drug-resistant colon cancers.