Anti-Cancer Agents in Medicinal Chemistry (Formerly Current Medicinal Chemistry - Anti-Cancer Agents) - Volume 12, Issue 8, 2012

Flavonoids are widely distributed in nature and a prevalent component of the human diet. Numerous biological activities have been reported. Some clinical trials or meta-analyses have suggested positive associations between flavonoid intake and human health, whereas others have not supported such a relationship. We currently highlight some responses that may be relevant to cancer chemoprevention, including antiox Read More

Cancers are the largest cause of mortality and morbidity in industrialized countries. Several new concepts have emerged in relation to mechanisms that contribute to the regulation of carcinogenesis processes and associated inflammatory effects such as the modulation of innate immune cells and adaptive immune cells that could infiltrate the tumor. In the tumor microenvironment, there is a delicate balance between antitumo Read More

Apoptosis is a critical regulatory mechanism to control tissue homeostasis. Accordingly, too little apoptosis can contribute to cancer. Natural compounds, e.g. polyphenols such as resveratrol, have emerged as promising agents for cancer chemoprevention and therapy, since they interfere with various major signaling cascades that are aberrantly regulated in cancers. For example, resveratrol can antagonize signali Read More

One of the main reasons of cancer resistance to chemotherapeutic treatment is the presence of different ABC multidrug transporters in plasma membranes. The transporters extrude wide spectrum of anticancer agents out of cancer cells at the expense of energy derived from ATP-hydrolysis. Plant-origin polyphenolic compounds, mainly flavonoids and stilbenes or their synthetic derivatives, can modulate the main A Read More

The development of tumor drug resistance is one of the biggest obstacles on the way to achieve a favorable outcome of chemotherapy. Among various strategies that have been explored to overcome drug resistance, the combination of current chemotherapy with plant polyphenols as a chemosensitizer has emerged as a promising one. Plant polyphenols are a group of phytochemicals characterized by the presence of m Read More

In this short review we report selected examples from recent literature to show the potential of natural-derived, low molecular weight polyphenols as antitumor agents. The two major groups of polyphenol analogues have been reviewed here, namely flavonoids and stilbenoids. Notwithstanding these limitations, we listed 75 compounds, many of them representing only the most potent member in a library. In addition, many studi Read More

The interaction between dihydromyricetin (DMY) with human serum albumin (HSA) under the physiological conditions was investigated by fluorescence spectroscopy, circular dichroism (CD) spectra and UV-visible absorption spectroscopy. In the mechanism discussion it was proved that the fluorescence quenching of HSA by DMY is a result of the formation of DMY-HSA complex. Binding parameters calculated showed tha Read More

The natural flavonoids as human digestive enzymes, such as α-glucosidase, α-amylase and aldose reductases inhibitors, have attracted great interest among researchers. The objective of this review is to overview the structures required of flavonoids for inhibiting these digestive enzymes. The hydroxylation on rings A and B of flavonoids improved the inhibition against these digestive enzymes. The hydroxylation on A-ring of Read More

Polyphenol-protein interaction (PPI) is reversible in that polyphenol-protein complex can be dissociated and release the free polyphenols. The aim of this study is to evaluate the contribution of polyphenol-protein interaction on improving the DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging capacity of polyphenols. The DPPH radical scavenging potential of polyphenols was determined from 1 to 7 days under aerobic condition Read More

We investigated the molecular events of the ruthenium complex NAMI-A (0.1 mM for 1 h) on cell cycle G2-M arrest in KB carcinoma cells. Flow cytometry analysis showed a progressive accumulation of cells in S phase at 16 h, and in G2-M phase at 20 h after the end of treatment. NAMI-A pre-mitotic stop to cell proliferation was due to the maintenance of the phosphorylated, inactive, form of Cdk1, caused by the activation Read More

Melanoma and nonmelanoma skin cancers are among the most prevalent cancers in the human population. In the present work latex of Ficus carica cultivar Dottato from Italy collected from fruits and leaves was examined to assess its free radical-scavenging activity with 1,1-diphenyl-2 picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and its phototoxicity on A375 human melanoma cells. The latex obtained from the fruits of Ficus carica cv. Dottato Read More

The evasion of cancer cells from the induction of cell death pathways results in the resistance of tumor to current treatment modalities. Therefore, the resistance to cell death, one of the hallmarks of cancer, is a major target in the development of new approaches to selectively affect cancer cells. The complex interplay between individual members of Bcl-2 family regulates both cell survival and the mitochondrial pathway of a Read More

Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) accounts for approximately 80-90% of all ovarian cancers, and 75% of the patients are diagnosed with advanced disease (stage III and IV). Front-line systemic chemotherapy improves survival in women with advanced EOC; however, tumor recurrence occurs in almost all advanced EOC patients at a median of 15 months from diagnosis, and 5-year survival is estimated at 10 to 30%. Additionally, Read More

DTA0100 is a new catalytic inhibitor of the human DNA topoisomerase IIα that induces G2/M phase cell cycle arrest in human solid tumor cells lines from various malignancies. In our study, we investigated the effectiveness of the combined treatment of ionizing radiation with DTA0100 on the survival of three representative human solid tumor cell lines: HeLa (cervix), WiDr (colon) and SW1573 (non-small cell lung cancer). The c Read More

Gambogic acid (GA) is a caged xanthone that is derived from Garcinia hanburyi and functions as a strong apoptotic inducer in many types of cancer cells. The distinct effectiveness of GA has led to its characterization as a novel anti-cancer agent. There is an increasing number of research studies focused on elucidating the molecular mechanisms of GA-induced anti-cancer effects, and several critical signaling pathways have been r Read More