Current Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 13, Issue 11, 2006

Most of the signal transduction pathways are mediated by protein kinases regulating every aspect of cell function. Mutations which deregulate their expression or their function or both result in cancers. Therefore, protein kinase inhibitors have become the focus of development of new therapies for cancer. A comprehensive review of Choline kinase (ChoK) was published by us in 2003. Since then, molecular information of ChoK in Read More

As the significance of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is constantly rising, the scarcity of matched donors is proving to be a troubling issue. Cord blood (CB) is an important source of stem cells (SC) for transplantation. It has been used in the last two decades for approximately 4500 transplantations. Its collection, cryopreservation, banking and thawing techniques pose unique challenges to clinicians and researchers Read More

Corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), a 41-amino acid peptide, has been recognized as an important factor mediating stress. Efforts to discover small molecule antagonists of the CRF type-1 receptor (CRF1-R) for potentially novel treatment of anxiety and depression started in the early 1990's. Although highly potent in vitro and efficacious in animal models, early reported compounds such as CP-154,526 and NBI-27914 a Read More

Within the pharmaceutical industry, the ultimate source of continuing profitability is the unremitting process of drug discovery. To be profitable, drugs must be marketable: legally novel, safe and relatively free of side effects, efficacious, and ideally inexpensive to produce. While drug discovery was once typified by a haphazard and empirical process, it is now increasingly driven by both knowledge of the receptor-medi Read More

The transactivation responsive (TAR) RNA is the 5'-leader sequence of the HIV-1 mRNA genome and interacts with the Tat protein during transcription. Tat and the positive transcription elongation factor (PTEFb) complex bind to TAR to promote efficient transcription of the full-length HIV genome. In the absence of the TAR█Tat█P-TEFb interaction, viral transcription is inefficient, which makes this RNA-protein complex a Read More

The function of many endogenous molecules in all eukaryotic cells depends on their subcellular localisation, being active when localized in one cellular compartment and inactive in another. Translocation or re-localization of mislocalized components in the optimal subcellular site may contribute to the development of novel cancer therapies and to the re-evaluation of conventional treatment. For instance, various agent Read More

Fungi are one of the most neglected pathogens apparent from the fact that the Amphotericin B, a polyene antibiotic, discovered way back in 1956 is still used as a 'gold standard' for antifungal therapy. Past two decades have witnessed a dramatic rise in the incidences of life threatening systemic fungal infections. This can be ascribed to the increase in the number of immuno-compromised patients due to rise in HIV infect Read More

In the next two decades, the world is expected to see around 20 million cases of cancer. Moreover, the types of cancer will vary considerably from country to other. Therefore, all efforts will be needed to face such a vast diversity of problems. With current annual sales of about $500 millions, the platinum(II) complex known as cisplatin [cis- (NH3)2PtCl2] is still one of the most effective drugs to treat testicular, ovarian, bladder Read More