Anti-Cancer Agents in Medicinal Chemistry (Formerly Current Medicinal Chemistry - Anti-Cancer Agents) - Volume 13, Issue 3, 2013

Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) are heterogeneous in underlying tumor biology and clinical presentations. They are generally classified according to their degree of differentiation and sites of origin. Moreover, NETs are further characterized by their secreted bioactive neuroamine. The treatment paradigm used to be surgical intervention in early disease and mostly palliative nature in the metastatic setting. With an increase in the Read More

Current development of molecular targeted therapies in oncology is particularly active. This paper is a review of the recent advances in the field of molecular targeted therapies for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). We analyze not only the recently published and ongoing clinical trials, but also the relevant preclinical studies, in order to identify the future directions of research in the field of HNSCC. As epidermal gr Read More

Microbubbles (MBs) are gas-filled hollow microparticles. Under the ultrasound field, the difference of acoustic characteristics between gas and plasma in the blood vessel will cause strong impedance mismatch and echogenicity to enhance ultrasonic grey scale imaging. The linear or nonlinear resonance of MB shell in the ultrasound field would lead to repeated expansion-contraction till destruction. In this case, the pr Read More

Some polyamine derivatives, namely the bisnaphthalimidopropyl polyamines (BNIPPs) may have potential as anticancer drugs. Indeed, previous work from some of us had shown that the ability of these molecules to bind to DNA may contribute to their cytotoxicity. However, their precise mode of action has not been fully understood. In the present work, we report for the first time the effect of the previously synthesised c Read More

Chalcones, aromatic ketones and enones acting as the precursor for flavonoids such as Quercetin, are known for their anticancer effects. Although, parent chalcones consist of two aromatic rings joined by a three-carbon α,β-unsaturated carbonyl system, various synthetic compounds possessing heterocyclic rings like pyrazole, indole etc. are well known and proved to be effective anticancer agents. In addition to their use as antic Read More

Apoptosis is a genetically in-built process whereby organisms remove unwanted cells. Apoptosis can serve as a regulatory and defense mechanism in the formation of the shape and size of the human body and also to eradicate surplus amount of cells. The regulation of apoptosis is relevant and differentiates between a normal cells of body and cancer cells by loss of control. Apoptosis being an intricate process regulated by much Read More

Quinones are plant-derived secondary metabolites that present some anti-proliferation and anti-metastasis effects in various cancer types both in vitro and in vivo. This review focuses on the anti-cancer prospects of plant-derived quinones, namely, aloe-emodin, juglone, β-lapachol, plumbagin, shikonin, and thymoquinone. We intend to summarize their anti-cancer effects and investigate the mechanism of actions to promote the Read More

Endocrine therapy has developed rapidly and become most effective and clearly target form of adjuvant therapy for hormone sensitive breast cancer. Adjuvant endocrine therapy for breast cancer can be given after surgery or radiotherapy, and also prior, or subsequent to chemotherapy. Current commonly used drugs for adjuvant endocrine therapy can be divided into following three classes: selective estrogen receptor m Read More

Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACIs) represent one of the most promising, recently developed classes of anticancer agents already approved by the U.S. FDA. The effectiveness of these new drugs has currently being explored in a variety of cancer cell lines, in vitro, animal models, in vivo, as well as in clinical trials. Malignant mesothelioma (MM) is a rare aggressive malignancy with a median overall survival of 12 months when Read More

Mutation detection in samples from thyroid cancer with the addition of BRAF mutation, and also the detection of RAS, RET/PTC, and PAX8/PPARγ mutations, may also contribute to cancer diagnosis. On the other hand, the MAPK/ERK (mitogen-activated protein kinase/extracellular signal-regulated kinase signaling pathway) and PI3K/Akt (lipid kinase phoshoinositid-3-kinase signaling pathway) play an important role in the tr Read More

Vitamins are prominent among natural or endogenous compounds that are considered to be beneficial for both prevention and therapy of various human ailments. The vitamin E group of compounds composed of tocopherol and tocotrienol isoforms, has been subsequently proven to have health benefits including antioxidant and related protective properties. However, individual isoforms exhibit a wide-range of antioxidant Read More

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) form a class of molecules with both positive and negative impacts on cellular health. Negatively, ROS may react with cellular constituents including proteins, lipids, and DNA to generate an array of oxidative lesions. These lesions may compromise genome stability which is critical for long-term cellular homeostasis and healthy progeny. Paradoxically, ROS also function as strong signalling molecules t Read More

Certain tumor types have an increased capacity for heme synthesis, which serves as the basis for photodynamic therapy. Heme also serves as the target for the anti-malaria drug artemisinin, which has also been used as an anti-cancer drug. We developed a highthroughput screening assay to identify heme interacting (HI) compounds, which included imidazole, pyridine, carbonitrile, isocyanide, and quinoline core structures that Read More

The main goal in cancer chemotherapy is to drive the drug into the tumor microenvironment to kill as many cancer cells as possible while producing the lowest collateral toxicity. Previously, we have shown that human bone marrow derived mesenchymal stromal cells (hBM-MSCs) exposed to Paclitaxel (PTX) were able to uptake and subsequently release the drug in the culture medium. PTX primed hBM-MSCs (hBM- Read More