Anti-Cancer Agents in Medicinal Chemistry (Formerly Current Medicinal Chemistry - Anti-Cancer Agents) - Volume 7, Issue 2, 2007

Acridine derivatives are interesting chemotherapeutic agents that were first used as antibacterial and antiparasite agents. In this review we wish to concentrate our attention on the anticancer properties of acridines used in clinics since the 1970's. Based on recent results, an outlook on antitumour acridine chemotherapy will be proposed. The biological activity of acridines is mainly attributed to the planarity of these aro Read More

Protein kinases are among the most exploited targets in modern drug discovery due to key roles these enzymes play in human diseases including cancer. The in silico approach, an important part of rational design of protein kinase inhibitors, is founded on vast information about 3D structures of these enzymes. This review summarizes general structural features of the kinase inhibitors and the studies applied toward a large sca Read More

This review highlights structural diversity of antimitotic agents. In particular, we emphasized current antimitotic therapies based on modulation of microtubule dynamics. With several successful anticancer drugs on the market and numerous compounds in clinical developments, tubulin-binding agents remain among the most important categories of anticancer agents. Compounds targeting mitotic kinases and kinesins are also discussed.

This meta-analysis examines a wide range of small molecule anticancer drugs to search for a structure common to all. Although they encompass a very wide range of structures, nearly all reveal the presence of an allylic O, N, or S atom. In some, the allylic oxygen is a carbonyl group, or an alcohol group, which can be substituted (ester, lactone, glycoside, ether) or replaced by an amino or imino nitrogen Some antineoplastic Read More

Angiogenesis, or formation of new blood capillaries from preexisting vessels, plays both beneficial and damaging roles in the organism. It is a result of a complex balance of positive and negative regulators, and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is one of the most important pro-angiogenic factors involved in tumor angiogenesis. VEGF increases vascular permeability, which might facilitate tumor dissemination via Read More

Natural and synthetic carbazoles, either in a pure substituted or in an annellated substituted form, represent an important and heterogeneous class of anticancer agents, which has grown considerably over the last two decades. Many carbazole derivatives have been tested for cyctotoxic activity, some of them have entered clinical trials, but only very few have been approved for the treatment of cancer so far, since the clinical ap Read More