6-Acetomido-6-deoxycastanospermine

A powerful inhibitor of hexosaminidases.
Inhibits β-N-acetylglucosaminidases, enzymes which catalyse the hydrolysis of β-N-acetylglucosamine residues of lipid or protein-linked oligosaccharides, these are potentially useful targets for cancer chemotherapy. β-N-acetylglucosaminidases may be associated with the invasiveness of certain tumours and high activity levels of these enzymes have been found in serum and urine of patients with various malignancies.
6-Acetamido-6-deoxycastanospermine was tested against a panel of glycosidases and was found to be a very potent inhibitor of β-N-acetylglucosaminidases from human placenta (IC50 = 0.5 mM), bovine kidney (IC50 = 1.5 mM), jack bean (IC50 = 1.6 m M), porcine placenta (IC50 = 0.4 mM) and bovine epididymis (IC50 = 0.7 mM).
Reference: Tett. Lett. 32, 6, 719-720.