Current Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 17, Issue 9, 2010

B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (B-CLL) is the most common lymphoid malignancy in the Western world, characterized by clonal growth and accumulation of monoclonal CD5+ B-cells in peripheral blood, bone marrow and peripheral lymphoid organs. Although the clinical course in B-CLL patients is highly variable, the most conserved feature is the prolonged survival of malignant B-cells, which has been associated to defec Read More

Over eleven hundred publications reporting anticancer activities of polyphenols have appeared in the peerreviewed literature. In addition, a search of the PubMed database using “polyphenols ” cancer “ review” as keywords produced over 320 hits for review articles (July 2009). Polyphenol anticancer activities include, among others, anti-oxidative, pro-apoptotic, DNA damaging, anti-angiogenic, and immunostimulatory effec Read More

Many enzymes and proteins are regulated by their quaternary structure and/or by their association in homoand/ or hetero-oligomer complexes. Thus, these protein-protein interactions can be good targets for blocking or modulating protein function therapeutically. The large number of oligomeric structures in the Protein Data Bank (http://www.rcsb. org/) reflects growing interest in proteins that function as multimeric co Read More

Idiopathic nephrotic syndrome (INS) is defined as massive proteinuria and hypoalbuminemia associated with dyslipidemia and generalized oedema in most cases. It is thought to be due to a plasma factor of immunologic origin. Most cases are steroid responsive. However, a considerable proportion of children run a steroid dependent course. Calcineurin inhibitors and alkylating agents have been classical treatment strateg Read More

This review focuses on recent advances in our understanding of the complex biosynthetic pathways and diverse biological activities of naturally occurring xanthones. The biosynthesis section covers studies published from 1989 to 2008 on xanthone production in plants and fungi, while the bioactivity review presents tabulated activities of more than 250 xanthones described in studies published from 2001 to 2008, together Read More