Note
Given our interest in
finding new therapies for pancreatic cancer, we sought to
determine whether the known cytotoxic activity of the
batzellines extended to pancreatic cancer cell lines. The
batzellines are pyrroloiminoquinones alkaloids obtained
from the deep-water Caribbean sponge Batzella sp (family
Esperiopsidae, order Poecilosclerida). We show here that
batzellines exhibit selective cytotoxicity towards the
pancreatic cancer cell lines AsPC-1, Panc-1, BxPC-3, and
MIA PaCa2 compared with the normal African green
monkey kidney epithelial cell line Vero.