Compounds and methods for the prevention and treatment of cancer
The present invention relates to compounds for modulating sonic hedgehog signaling and preventing or treating cancer.
1. A compound having the structure:
wherein the dashed bonds are present or absent; R 1 and R 2 are each independently selected from the group of H, —OH, ═O, a halo group, a phenyl group, or a C 1-6 alkyl group; and R 3 is H, —OH, or a C 1-6 alkyl group.
2. The compound of claim 1 , wherein said compound is selected from the following:
3. A pharmaceutical composition comprising a compound of claim 1 in admixture with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.
4. The pharmaceutical composition of claim 3 , wherein said composition is formulated for parenteral, transdermal, oral, subcutaneous, intrapulmonary, topical or intranasal administration.
5. A method for inhibiting sonic hedgehog signaling in a cell comprising contacting a cell with a compound of claim 1 thereby inhibiting sonic hedgehog signaling in the cell.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein said method is carried out in vitro.
7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the cell is a cancer cell.
8. A method for treating cancer comprising administering to a subject in need of treatment an effective amount of the pharmaceutical composition of claim 3 thereby treating the subject's cancer.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the cancer is breast cancer, prostate cancer, small cell lung cancer, lung adenocarcinoma, melanoma, pancreatic cancer, basal cell carcinoma, medulloblastoma, or meningioma.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the cancer has metastasized.