Current Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 16, Issue 10, 2009

An intraperitoneal (IP) monotherapy in nu/nu mice with subcutaneous xenografts of a human prostate epithelial cancer cell line:DU145 was undertaken with an aldehyde dehydrogenase 3 inhibitor MATE, that is a potent apoptogen on (DU145) in culture but not on their human prostate epithelial normal counterparts [13] . Tumour growth was slowed down but treatment had to be done 5days/week. To try to potentiate th Read More

Naphthalimides, a class of compounds which bind to DNA by intercalation, have shown high anti-cancer activity against a variety of murine and more notably human cancer cell lines. Azonafide derivatives are also potential antitumor agents which are structurally related to the naphthalimides. Derivatives of azonafide have shown enhanced activity against various cancer models, especially leukemias, breast can Read More

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are zinc-endopeptidases responsible for degradation of the extracellular matrix (ECM) components including basement membrane collagen, interstitial collagen, fibronectin, and various proteoglycans, during normal remodeling and repair processes. The turnover and remodeling of ECM must be tightly regulated since excessive or inappropriate expression of MMPs may contribute to the p Read More

In response to progressive telomere shortening in successive cell divisions, normal somatic cells withdraw from the cell cycle and exhibit irreversible growth arrest. This state, called cellular senescence, is induced not only by telomere shortening but also by various physico-chemical stressors that induce DNA damage and chromatin disruption as well as by strong mitogenic signals. Because senescent cells never re-en Read More

Recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) engineered in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell cultures (Epoetin alfa and Epoetin beta) and its hyperglycosylated analogue Darbepoetin alfa are known to be misused by athletes. The drugs can be detected by isoelectric focusing (IEF) and immunoblotting of urine samples, because “EPO” is in reality a mixture of isoforms and the N-glycans of the recombinant products differ Read More

Aptamers are short DNA- or RNA-based oligonucleotides selected from large combinatorial pools of sequences for their capacity to efficiently recognize targets ranging from small molecules to proteins or nucleic acid structures. Like antibodies, they exhibit high specificity and affinity for target binding. As a result, they may display effective interference in biological processes, which renders them not only valuable diagnos Read More

Mitochondria are ubiquitous organelles in eukaryotic cells whose primary function is to generate energy supplies in the form of ATP through oxidative phosphorylation. As the entry point for most electrons into the respiratory chain, NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase, or complex I, is the largest and least understood component of the mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation system. Substantial progress has been made in Read More

Progress in nanosynthesis has succeeded in making nanoscale particles from iron oxide under precise quality control. Given the recent great advances in polymer manufacturing, antibody purification, DNA/RNA synthesis and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), such iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) have been enriched with many variables and attracted great interest in studying their potential biomedical applica Read More

A suspended animation-like state has been induced in rodents with the use of hydrogen sulfide, resulting in hypothermia with a concomitant reduction in metabolic rate. Also oxygen demand was reduced, thereby protecting against hypoxia. Several therapeutic applications of induction of a hibernation-like state have been suggested, including ischemiareperfusion injury. More recently, hydrogen sulfide has been found to b Read More

Copper promotion of angiogenesis has been known for more than two decades, but the mechanism of action of copper has not been explored until recently. Copper stimulation of factors involved in vessel formation and maturation, such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), is mainly responsible for its angiogenesis effect. Copper is required for the activation of hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1), a major transcription fa Read More