Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 2007-04-05

Probing the anticancer activity of nucleoside analogues: a QSAR model approach using an internally consistent training set.

Aliuska Morales Helguera, J E Rodríguez-Borges, Xerardo García-Mera, Franco Fernández, M Natália D S Cordeiro

Index: J. Med. Chem. 50 , 1537-45, (2007)

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Abstract

The cancer research community has begun to address the in silico modeling approaches, such as quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSAR), as an important alternative tool for screening potential anticancer drugs. With the compilation of a large dataset of nucleosides synthesized in our laboratories, or elsewhere, and tested in a single cytotoxic assay under the same experimental conditions, we recognized a unique opportunity to attempt to build predictive QSAR models. Here, we report a systematic evaluation of classification models to probe anticancer activity, based on linear discriminant analysis along with 2D-molecular descriptors. This strategy afforded a final QSAR model with very good overall accuracy and predictability on external data. Finally, we search for similarities between the natural nucleosides, present in RNA/DNA, and the active nucleosides well-predicted by the model. The structural information then gathered and the QSAR model per se shall aid in the future design of novel potent anticancer nucleosides.