Article
Author: Doki, Noriko  ; Seki, Fumiya  ; Hachiro, Yoshifumi  ; Kanda, Risa  ; Hara, Takahiko  ; Yagi, Takuya  ; Nuriya, Hideko  ; Maki, Shojiro A  ; Goyama, Susumu  ; Kitamura, Toshio  ; Miyashita, Kazuya  ; Kagaya, Noritaka  ; Shin-Ya, Kazuo  ; Nakata, Chihiro  ; Kitada, Nobuo  ; Hoyano, Shota  ; Higashi, Tomoya  ; Najima, Yuho  ; Takechi, Azusa  ; Yoshida, Chihiro  ; Kobayashi, Takeshi  ; Toya, Takashi  ; Tanegashima, Kosuke 
T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is one of the most frequently occurring cancers in children and is associated with a poor prognosis. Here, we performed large-scale screening of natural compound libraries to identify potential drugs against T-ALL. We identified three low-molecular-weight compounds (auxarconjugatin-B, rumbrin, and lavendamycin) that inhibited the proliferation of the T-ALL cell line CCRF-CEM, but not that of the B lymphoma cell line Raji in a low concentration range. Among them, auxarconjugatin-B and rumbrin commonly contained a polyenyl 3-chloropyrrol in their chemical structure, therefore we chose auxarconjugatin-B for further analyses. Auxarconjugatin-B suppressed the in vitro growth of five human T-ALL cell lines and two T-ALL patient-derived cells, but not that of adult T-cell leukemia patient-derived cells. Cultured normal T cells were several-fold resistant to auxarconjugatin-B. Auxarconjugatin-B and its synthetic analogue Ra#37 depolarized the mitochondrial membrane potential of CCRF-CEM cells within 3 h of treatment. These compounds are promising seeds for developing novel anti-T-ALL drugs.