Anti-Cancer Agents in Medicinal Chemistry (Formerly Current Medicinal Chemistry - Anti-Cancer Agents) - Volume 14, Issue 3, 2014

β2-microglobulin (β2-m) has become the focus of intense scrutiny since the discovery of its undesirable roles promoting osteomimicry and cancer progression. β2-m is a well-known housekeeping protein that forms complexes with the heavy chain of major histocompatibility complex class I molecules, which are heterodimeric cell surface proteins that present antigenic peptides to cytotoxic T cells. On recognition of foreign p Read More

Classical chemotherapeutic agents such as mitotic inhibitors (spindle poisons), alkylating agents, antimetabolites, topoisomerase inhibitors, and anthracenediones (anthracyclines) inhibit DNA synthesis and mitosis, thereby killing or impeding the proliferation of rapidly dividing cells. During the last decade, targeted therapy has gained advantage over conventional treatment regimens, as it is more effective against cancer and al Read More

Natural products display special attributes in the treatment and prevention of a variety of human disorders including cancer. Their therapeutic capacities along with the fact that nature comprises a priceless pool of new compounds have attracted the interest of researchers worldwide. A significant number of organic compounds from terrestrial and marine organisms exhibit anticancer properties as attested by both in vitr Read More

Breast and ovarian cancers remain a major public health issue, constituting a major cause of female morbidity and mortality worldwide. Even though systemic chemotherapy remains the main course of action for both types of cancer, current research studies aim at the discovery of novel therapeutic targets. Ribonucleases, due to their apparent implication in gene expression regulation, may serve as potential anticancer d Read More

Effective novel therapeutics is urgently needed due to increasing incidence of malignant cancer and drug multi-resistance. Natural products and their derivatives have historically been a source of pharmaceutical leads and therapeutic drugs. Microtubuletargeting compounds are among the most promising candidates in the combat against cancer. In particular, marine natural products (MNPs) have demonstrated exceptional Read More

Chemotherapy has been performed to treat metastatic cancers but with varying degrees of success. The optimal potential of chemotherapy has not been achieved yet. Numerous compounds cannot be further developed to produce potent drugs because these compounds exhibit poor druggability. To resolve this issue, researchers developed prodrugs in drug discovery because these drugs can be efficiently used. Many Read More

In this review, the literature data on recent advances of the medicinal plant Brucea javanica (L.) Merr. (Simaroubaceae), both phytochemical and biological investigations, are compiled. Brucea javanica is an evergreen shrub distributed widely in Southeast Asia and northern Australia. In China, the seeds of Brucea javanica have been used as traditional herbal medicine due to its multifaceted activities. To date, 153 compounds h Read More

Aliphatic and aromatic ferrocenylthiosemicarbazones were synthesized. The characterization of the new ferrocenylthiosemicarbazones was done by IR, 1H-NMR and 13C-NMR spectroscopy, elemental analysis and X-ray diffraction studies. The biological activity of the obtained compounds was assessed in terms of anticancer activity. Their activity against U251 (human glyoblastoma), PC-3 (human prostatic adenocarcinoma), K5 Read More

The identification and in-depth understanding of intracellular signalling pathways led to the synthesis and discovery of many agents targeting cancer cells. In this study, we investigated for the first time the effect of anticancer agent ukrain as a single agent or in combination with cisplatin, etoposide, 5-fluorouracil, quercetin and bortezomib in 4T1 breast cancer and B16F10 melanoma cells. It was found that ukrain is cytoto Read More

Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) continues to demand improved chemotherapeutic solutions. In order to discover novel chemotherapeutic agents for GBM, we identified novel tetrahydroisoquinoline (THI) analogs as antiglioma agents. The present study reports the design, synthesis and in vitro evaluation of new THI derivatives in four established human glioma cell lines (T98, U87, LN18 and A172). Our structure activity relations Read More

By connection of Regasepin2, a heptapeptide inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), to the N- or C-terminus of ES-2, an anti-angiogenic peptide of 11 residues, two designed peptides CPU1 and CPU2 were generated. Unexpectedly, CPU2 inhibited MMP-8 and MMP-9 activity in the nanomolar range, whereas CPU1 displayed a weaker inhibitory profile than Regasepin2 against TACE, MMP-8 and MMP-9. CPU1 showed Read More