Current Drug Targets - Volume 12, Issue 3, 2011

In the last years natural products have been re-discovered as valuable and effective pharmacological agents. In particular they were shown to exert positive effects in the therapy of acute and chronic diseases, like cancer and microbial syndromes, for which the use of chemotherapeutics or antibiotics failed due to increasing resistance. To this concern, many examples of natural products were reported in the recent and curr Read More

Inflammation is a natural response of living organisms to the presence of internal and external substances which are recognized by the host as being “non-self” or “foreign invader”. It is also a cascade leading to the healing of damaged tissue. Uncontrolled inflammation often results in chronic diseases such as arthritis, autoimmune disorder, cancer, dementia, diabetic, neurodegeneration and vascular disease. The list k Read More

Over the past years, there was an explosion in the knowledge of the protein target and molecular mechanism associated with various disease types and in the new research of drugs of natural origin. The key idea is to evaluate bioactive natural products interacting with protein domains of different genetic origin but structurally preserved to develop libraries of compounds biologically validated and selected from an evolutio Read More

Periodontitis is a common chronic inflammatory disorder of bacterial origin, which affects the tooth-supporting tissues. A wide range of evidences suggests that Porphyromonas gingivalis plays a key role in the initiation and progression of chronic periodontitis. This Gram-negative anaerobic bacterium produces several types of proteolytic enzymes, including gingipains, collagenases, and a dipeptidyl aminopeptidase IV. Althou Read More

Curcumin (diferuloylmethane), an orange-yellow component of turmeric or curry powder, is a polyphenol natural product isolated from the rhizome of the plant Curcuma longa. For centuries, curcumin has been used in some medicinal preparation or used as a food-coloring agent. In recent years, extensive in vitro and in vivo studies suggested curcumin has anticancer, antiviral, antiarthritic, anti-amyloid, antioxidant, and anti Read More

The persistence of latent HIV-infected cellular reservoirs represents the major hurdle to virus eradication in patients treated with highly active antiretroviral therapy. The molecular mechanisms by which integrated HIV-1 is repressed during latency have been partially identified in different models of HIV-1 latency, and the involvement of multiple processes has been demonstrated. Therefore, several molecular targets amen Read More

Nanoparticles are sphere-like biocompatible materials made of inert silica, metal or crystals of a few nanometers in size. They are emerging as a novel class of therapeutics for cancer treatment. Being more selective and specific toward their targets, nanoparticles have the ability to enhance the anticancer effects and to simultaneously reduce systemic toxicity compared with conventional therapeutics. Furthermore, they offer Read More

Approximately, 63% of marketed drugs derive from natural products or their semi synthetic derivatives. Compounds from living organisms often exert a biological activity, triggering several targets, which may be useful for the improvement of novel pharmaceuticals. These natural products can be extracted from plants, marine organisms, or microorganism fermentation broths. In the vast array of bioactive secondary metab Read More

Auraptene is the most abundant prenyloxycoumarin that occurs in nature. It has been isolated from plants belonging to many genus of the Rutaceae family, comprising several edible fruits and vegetables. Although known for a long time, only in the last decade auraptene was seen to exert valuable pharmacological properties as orally active cancer chemopreventive, anti-bacterial, anti-protozoal, anti-fungal, anti-infla Read More

About 50 years ago interferon (IFN) was discovered by Isaacs and Lindenmann [1] and described as a cytokine, which was able to interfere with virus replication. The IFN-receptor was identified and shortly after the JAK/STAT-signal transduction pathway being described in several recent reviews [2-6]. Early in this development it was apparent that one of the mechanisms of action of IFN-alpha involved stimulation of immu Read More

The Philadelphia-negative chronic myeloproliferative neoplasms encompass essential thrombocythemia (ET), polycythemia vera (PV) and primary myelofibrosis (PMF). A major break-through in the understanding of the pathogenesis of these neoplasms occurred in 2005 by the discovery of the JAK2 V617F mutation in the large majority of patients with PV and in half of those with ET and PMF. A number of studies have shown that Read More

Treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) with interferon-alpha (IFN-α) was introduced in the early 1980s. Several clinical trials showed a survival advantage for patients treated with IFN-α compared to conventional chemotherapy. Some patients achieved longstanding complete cytogenetic remissions (i.e. >2 log tumor mass reduction). IFN-α was then recommended as first line medical treatment until 2001. The Read More

Most of the primary conditions with eosinophilia have now been characterized by clonality in 2008 by the WHO classification, which thereby provide a basis for separation of patients who may benefit a targeted therapy, i.e. by tyrosine kinase inhibition - and who may not. Treatment with interferon-α was introduced some 20 years ago and still has a role in subsets of patients, which is evident from this review of casuistic r Read More

Patients with systemic mastocytosis are rare, constitute a heterogenous clinical entity and some may not require treatment until long after diagnosis. However, most patients who present with disabling symptoms, organ involvement and fulfill B or C findings as outlined in the 2008 WHO classification need treatment. This review on interferon treatment in systemic mastocytosis documents an effect of this biological agent Read More

Interferons are soluble proteins produced naturally by cells in response to viruses. It has both anti-proliferative and immunomodulating properties and is one of the first examples of a biological response modifier use to treat the hematological malignancy multiple myeloma. Interferon has been used in this clinical practice for over thirty years. However, despite considerable efforts, numerous clinical trials and two large meta-anal Read More