Resveratrol analogs: promising chemopreventive agents.

Although resveratrol can modulate multiple stages of carcinogenesis, by most common standards it is not a good drug candidate. Resveratrol lacks potency, high efficacy, and target specificity; it is rapidly metabolized and serum concentrations are low. Using resveratrol as a scaffold, we produced over 100 derivatives, some of which have target specificity in the nanomolar range. Aromatase inhibition was enhanced over 6000-fold by using 1,3-thiazole as the central ring of resveratrol. Optimizing the substitution pattern of the two phenyl rings and the central heterocyclic linker led to selective QR1 induction with a CD value of 87 nM. Several derivatives have been selected for evaluation of synergistic effects. Preliminary results with pairs of compounds are promising and further experiments, in a constant multidrug manner, will allow us to create polygonograms for larger combinations of derivatives. The objective is to develop a highly efficacious cocktail of derivatives based on the structure of resveratrol.