Anti-Cancer Agents in Medicinal Chemistry (Formerly Current Medicinal Chemistry - Anti-Cancer Agents) - Volume 8, Issue 6, 2008

Anti-Cancer Agents in Medicinal Chemistry (ACA-MC) represents an essential review journal to scientists and pharmaceutical industry covering all the latest and outstanding developments in medicinal chemistry and rational drug design for the discovery of new anti-cancer agents. Since its launch in 2001, Anti-Cancer Agents in Medicinal Chemistry has successfully completed seven years of publication and will be soon qualifi Read More

The carbazole framework is found in many natural compounds of biological interest. Indolocarbazoles such as rebeccamycin and staurosporine which are either a topoisomerase I inhibitor (rebeccamycin) or a non selective kinase inhibitor (staurosporine) are bacterial metabolites. In the search for new antitumor agents, DNA damage checkpoint kinases, in particular Checkpoint kinase 1, have recently emerged as attracti Read More

Colorectal cancer is among the most common cancers worldwide, in terms of overall mortality. Environmental factors have been identified to play the most important roles in the development of this disease, in particular diet and its specific components. Selenium is an important micronutrient engaged in the protection of colonic cells against a wide range of external and internal stressors. In addition, selenium has been reporte Read More

The chemical, biological and ecological diversity of the marine ecosystem has contributed immensely in the discovery of extremely potent compounds that have shown potent activities in antitumor, analgesia, antiinflammatory, immunomodulation, allergy, anti-viral etc. The compounds of marine origin are diverse in structural class from simple linear peptides to complex macrocyclic polyethers. The recent advances in t Read More

The main drawback of most cancer chemotherapy is its relatively low ability to target tumour cells versus normal cells. As a consequence, chemotherapy is usually connected with severe side effects due to the toxicity of traditional cytostatic agents towards normal tissues. A few years ago, the site-specific activation of non-toxic prodrugs in tumours has been proposed in order to enhance the selectivity for the killing of Read More

Balanol, a fungal metabolite, is a potent ATP-competitive inhibitor of Protein Kinase C (PKC) and Protein Kinase A (PKA), important targets in oncology. Since its discovery in 1993, a number of studies have been performed in order to design selective and bioavailable balanol analogs. Several crystal structures of PKA in complex with balanol and a few analogs bound within the catalytic site have also been solved providi Read More

With the clinical success of several synthetic aromatase inhibitors (AIs) in the treatment of postmenopausal estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer, researchers have also been investigating the potential of natural products as AIs. Natural products from terrestrial and marine organisms provide a chemically diverse array of compounds not always available through current synthetic chemistry techniques. Natural products Read More

The review summarizes the chemistry of the third generation of photosensitizers, namely, the derivatives of natural bacteriochlorophyll a for photodynamic treatment of cancer. The compounds of this class strongly absorb light at λ=770-850 nm. This unique property opens new therapeutic opportunities due to deeper tissue penetration of light, thereby increasing the photodamage for tumor eradication. Analyze Read More

The kinesin spindle protein (KSP, also known as Hs Eg5) plays an essential part in the proper separation of spindle poles and the correct formation of bipolar mitotic spindle during mitosis. Inhibition of this protein results in cells apoptosis followed by mitotic arrest and the formation of characteristic monoaster spindles. Compared with the traditional chemotherapeutic agents (taxanes, vinca alkaloids), KSP inhibitors (KS Read More