Anti-Cancer Agents in Medicinal Chemistry (Formerly Current Medicinal Chemistry - Anti-Cancer Agents) - Volume 8, Issue 3, 2008

Cancer has remained one of the biggest health threats to the human life and many approaches are being explored for its treatment. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is one of such approach and it has cured thousands of patients so far. The photodynamic agents selectively enter to the cancerous cells, and exhibit biological response only after exposure to the light. The exact reasons by which photosensitizers are selectively retaine Read More

In recent years, a number or review articles describing the utility of porphyrin-based compounds in photodynamic therapy have been published.1 Currently, efforts are also underway in various laboratories to increase the tumor-specificity by developing targetspecific photosensitizers. One of such attempts has been to synthesize a series of carbohydrate-porphyrin conjugates and investigate their ability to target carbohydrate- Read More

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a treatment for tumors and accepted in several countries in the world. Introduction of twophoton absortion (2PA) into PDT allows spatially selective treatment of cancers. Possibilities and limitations of the use of two-photon excitation in PDT are discussed, and many literatures in this area are reviewed. The conclusions are that 2PA-PDT has an advantage for higher selectivity than one-photon a Read More

The first 20 years of anticancer photodynamic therapy (PDT) were based on the utility of the oligomeric mixture haematoporphyrin derivative (HpD) in various forms. More recently new derivatives have become available, both porphyrin-derived and employing new chromophores, for example from the phthalocyanine and phenothiazinium families. In addition, a major research effort has been rewarded with the clinical Read More

DNA is an established biological target for many organic natural products that react by alkylation or H-atom abstraction via key functional groups such as cyclopropane, aziridine, enediyne, and terminal diazo functionalities. Remarkably, although more than 20 natural product derivatives compose the latter class, the precise mechanism of action and specific biological target remain to be elucidated. Despite these biochem Read More

Cells can obtain energy through the oxygen-dependent pathway of oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) and through the oxygen-independent pathway of glycolysis. Since OXPHOS is more efficient in generating ATP than glycolysis, it is recognized that the presence of oxygen results in the activation of OXPHOS and the inhibition of glycolysis (Pasteur effect). However, it has been known for many years that cancer cells and Read More

Of late medicinal plants and functional foods rich in bioactive phytochemicals have received growing attention as potential agents for cancer chemoprevention. Accumulating evidence from epidemiological studies as well as laboratory data supports the anticancer properties of garlic widely used as a medicinal herb and spice. Garlic and its organosulfur compounds (OSCs) appear to exert their anticarcinogenic effects t Read More

Proteolytic caspase enzymes play a central role in cell apoptosis, or programmed cell death, often as integrating elements of different stimuli leading to the cell death. Since blockade of apoptotic pathways are fundamental for cell survival and proliferation, particularly in cancer cells, the activation of caspases is an attractive target for anticancer therapy. This review describes some of the druggable therapeutic targets th Read More

c-Src is a proto-oncogene involved in the genesis of and invasion by many cancers. This non-receptor tyrosine kinase also plays a crucial role in bone homeostasis, since inhibition or deletion of c-Src impairs the function of osteoclasts, the bone resorbing cells. It is thus conceivable that c-Src could be a suitable target for the pharmacological treatment of cancers, skeletal metastases and diseases of bone loss, such as osteopo Read More