Two-dimensional chromatography for enantiomeric analysis of mitotane and its metabolite o,p'-DDA in patients with adrenocortical carcinoma indicates enantioselective metabolism.

Mitotane is a chiral drug used to treat adrenocortical carcinoma, being metabolized to the o,p'-dichlorodiphenyl acetic acid (o,p'-DDA), also a chiral compound. Despite of its therapeutic significance, the overall ratios and enantiomers have not been known. In this study, we analyzed the enantiomers of mitotane and o,p'-DDA in the plasma of patients by a newly developed chiral-phase method employed in two-dimensional chromatography. Important differences were observed in the ratio of (S)/(R)-mitotane, which varied substantially from 1:1.2 to 1:10 whereas the (S)/(R)-o,p'-DDA ratio was relatively conserved, at approximately 2:1. These findings provide evidence for the enantioselective metabolism and provide a method for further analyses of mitotane and metabolites, which can explain the variation in the therapeutic response.

Two new hydronaphthoquinones from Sinningia aggregata (Gesneriaceae) and cytotoxic activity of aggregatin D.

Two new hydronaphthoquinones, aggregatins E and F (1 and 2, resp.) were isolated from the tubers of Sinningia aggregata (Ker-Gawl.) Wiehler (Gesneriaceae), along with twelve known compounds aggregatin D (3), tectoquinone (4), 1-hydroxy-2-methylanthraquinone (5), icosyl ferulate (6), pustuline (7), 1,6-dihydroxy-2-methylanthranquinone (8), 6-hydroxy-2-methylanthraquinone (9), 7-hydroxy-2-methylanthraquinone (10), tyrosol (11), halleridone (12), calceolarioside B (13), and cornoside (14). All compounds were identified by analysis of spectroscopic and spectrometric data. Compounds 3, 4, and 10 had already been reported in this species. Compounds 2 and 3 were evaluated against several tumor cell lines, but only 3 exhibited activities against UACC-62, 786-0 and OVCAR-3 cell lines, with IC50 values of 12.3, 12.8 and 0.3 µg/ml, respectively, without toxic effects on non-cancer cell line HaCat (human keratinocyte).