Retinoid related molecules: new promises against lung and breast cancer

Abstract

Retinoids have long interested cancer researchers due to their well-documented antiproliferative and differentiation inducing activities. However, natural compounds such as all-trans and 9-cis retinoic acid, as well as related synthetic derivatives, show only moderate anticancer activities, while at the same time inducing a broad range of undesirable activities. By taking advantage of the newly gained understanding in retinoid action and screening large numbers of novel molecules, new potent anticancer agents have been discovered that often lack typical retinoid side effects. Two of these novel types of molecules, referred to here as retinoid related molecules (RRMs), are described, one of which effectively kills non small cell lung cancer cells by apoptosis and is effective and well tolerated in vivo, while the other one belongs to a class of molecules selective for the nuclear receptor, RXR, which promises to be more effective and more tolerable than presently used compounds in anti-breast cancer adjuvant therapy. These novel molecules demonstrate the potential of novel RRMs that vastly outreaches classical retinoids.