Potential of radioiodinated anti cancer compounds of natural origin for cancer therapy

Plumbagin and Quercetin are naturally occurring compounds which exhibit anti-cancerous activity. To evaluate the effect of radioiodination on cytotoxicity, both Plumbagin and Quercetin were radioiodinated with ¹²⁵I ¹²⁵I-Plumbagin and ¹²⁵I-Quercetin could be prepared in moderate yields and good radiochemical purity and were charactenzed using reverse phase HPLC. In Swiss mice bearing fibrosarcoma, ¹²⁵I-Plumbagin showed a tumor uptake of ∼2.5%ID/g at 3 h p.i. and ∼0.5% ID/g at 24 h p.i. on i.v. injection. When injected intratum orally, greater tumor uptake and retention was observed (∼20%ID/g at 3 h p.i. and ∼14%ID/g at 24 h p.i. respectively).