ABSTRACT
Vinca alkaloids are a family of indole-indoline dimeric compounds belonging to the family Apocynaceae, and represent one of the most important classes of anticancer agents. Vinca alkaloids became clinically useful in cancer chemotherapy after their discovery in the late œfties. More than 40 years latter, the two natural drugs vinblastine (1) and vincristine (2) are still widely used in cancer chemotherapy, and semisynthetic analogs, such as vindesine (3), vinorelbine (4), and very recently vinŸunine (5) have been developed after intensive synthetic and structureactivity relationship studies. Other analogs have emerged as potentially potent drugs, and some of these will perhaps enrich the family of anticancer vinca alkaloids in the near future. This review intends to summarize the current knowledge about the vinca alkaloids, from their discovery to clinical applications with emphasis on the latest analogs that may have an interest in cancer chemotherapy.
