@article{3188944, title = "Discovery of steroidal lactam conjugates of POPAM-NH2 with potent anticancer activity", author = "Trafalis, Dimitrios and Dalezis, Panagiotis and Geromichalou, Elena and and Sagredou, Sofia and Sflakidou, Eleni and Voura, Maria and and Grammatikopoulou, Margarita and Gabriel, Catherine and Sarli, Vasiliki", journal = "Future Medicinal Chemistry", year = "2020", volume = "12", number = "1", pages = "19-35", publisher = "FUTURE SCI LTD", issn = "1756-8919", doi = "10.4155/fmc-2019-0255C", keywords = "alkylating agent; homo-aza-steroidal alkylators; human cancer cell lines; melphalan; nitrogen mustard; steroidal lactam", abstract = "Aim: Steroidal prodrugs of nitrogen mustards such as estramustine and prednimustine have proven effective anticancer agents in clinical use since the 1970s. In this work, we aimed to develop steroidal prodrugs of the novel nitrogen mustard POPAM-NH2. POPAM-NH2 is a melphalan analogue that was coupled with three different steroidal lactams. Methodology: The new conjugates were preclinically tested for anticancer activity against nine human and one rodent cancer experimental models, in vitro and in vivo. Results & conclusion: All the steroidal alkylators showed high antitumor activity, in vitro and in vivo, in the experimental systems tested. Moreover, these hybrid compounds showed by far superior anticancer activity compared with the alkylating agents, melphalan and POPAM-NH2. [GRAPHICS] ." }