Anti-Cancer Agents in Medicinal Chemistry (Formerly Current Medicinal Chemistry - Anti-Cancer Agents) - Volume 15, Issue 4, 2015

Tumor resistance and low drug efficacy prompt to investigate new therapeutic strategies that have high efficacy and low toxicity, especially for cancers with poor prognosis. This goal has been recently achieved using particular pharmaceutical combination or nanotechnologies to specifically deliver drugs at the tumor site. Novel combined treatments employ either naturally active ingredients or drugs already intended for oth Read More

The ABC (ATP-binding cassette) transporter is one of the largest and most ancient protein families with members functioning from protozoa to human. The resistance of cancer and tumor cells to anticancer drugs is due to the over-expression of some ABC transporters, which may finally lead to chemotherapy failure. The mouse ABC transporters are classified into seven subfamilies by phylogenetic analysis. The mouse AB Read More

Small-molecule cytotoxic agents are already in use for cancer immunotherapy in the form of antibody conjugates containing these molecules linked covalently to antibodies or their fragments with the goal of targeting specific surface components of tumor cells. However, there are also reports of small molecules that act as antagonists to surface enzyme-linked receptors and receptors that interact with the tumor microenvironme Read More

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common and rapidly fatal malignancies worldwide with poor prognosis. Most of the HCC patients died quickly because of the rapid tumor progression with no effective therapy except for liver resection or transplantation. Recently, microRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as key factors involved in a series of biological processes ranging from embryogenesis to programmed cell dea Read More

Increasing knowledge on cellular biology has permitted rapid changes in the treatment of metastatic melanoma. Until 2011, dacarbazine was the gold standard treatment at our disposal. In 2011 the treatment landscape changed dramatically with the approval by the FDA of ipilimumab and vemurafenib. These drugs use two new therapeutic approaches: immunomodulation and the targeting of mutated cellular pathways in t Read More

Fulvenes represent a class of molecules very interesting under a chemical point of view because are easily accessible starting materials and are still poorly characterized for their biological activities, with the exception of acylfulvene and irofulvenes which have been reported to exert cytotoxic properties. Here, we describe the synthesis and characterization of several aryl-fulvenes together with their effects on cancer cell growt Read More

The chemotherapeutic agent vincristine, used for treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia is metabolized preferentially by polymorphic cytochrome P450 3A5 (CYP3A5) with higher clearance rate than cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4). As a result, CYP3A5 expressers have a reduced amount of vincristine-induced peripheral neuropathy than non–expressers. We modeled the structure of CYP3A5 and its interaction with Read More

Accumulating evidences have reported that caffeine has anticancer effects at high blood concentrations. However, whether caffeine has anticancer effects on human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells at low concentration, especially at physiologically applicable concentration (< 412 μM) is still not well understood. In this study, HCC cell lines HepG2 and Huh7 were used. The cells were incubated with varying concentrations of ca Read More

A number of N-alkylated 4-anilinofuro[2,3-b]quinoline derivatives were synthesized and evaluated in vitro against PC-3, A549, and MCF-7 cancer cells and M-10 normal human mammary epithelial cells. The known antimitotic CIL-102 was moderately active against the growth of PC-3 prostate cancer cells with an IC50 value of 2.69 μM while it was more potent against the growth of A549, MCF-7 and M-10 cells with IC50 values o Read More

Various preclinical, clinical and epidemiological studies have already well established the cancer chemopreventive and chemoprotective potential of selenium compounds. In addition to its protective efficacy, recent studies have also proved the abilities of selenium compounds to induce cell death specifically in malignant cells. Therefore, our intention is to improve the therapeutic efficacy of an alkylating agent, cisplatin, by the adju Read More

Background: Berberine is an extract of a traditional Chinese herbal medicine and has been shown to inhibit the proliferation and induce apoptosis in a wide variety of tumour cells. However, the effects of Berberine in ovarian cancer cells are unknown. Aims: To investigate the potential anti-cancer effects of Berberine in human ovarian cancer cells. Methods: Cell proliferation was evaluated by a MTT assay. Apoptosis was determined Read More

A series of N-aryl derivatives of pyrrole and its related derivatives of fused form (namely; tetrahydroindole and dihydroindenopyrroles) were prepared in fair to good yields. The newly synthesized compounds were confirmed using IR, 1H NMR, Mass spectral and elemental analysis. Tetrahydrobenzo[b] pyrroles Ia-d, 1,4-dihydroindeno[1,2-b]pyrroles IIa,b and pyrroles IIIa-c,e were evaluated for anticancer activity, coin Read More

Osteosarcoma (OS) is the second most common primary malign bone neoplasm after multiple myeloma. Despite systemic chemotherapy, OS may give rise to local recurrences and metastases. Resistance to chemotherapy is not rare and is likely to occur in a high number of patients. Novel therapeutic approaches are required in order to efficiently treat osteosarcoma. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-related apoptosis inducing li Read More