Current Pharmaceutical Design - Volume 10, Issue 19, 2004

The histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDIs) are a new class of antineoplastic agents currently being evaluated in clinical trials. While these agents have been studied extensively in the laboratory, only recently has their mechanism of action begun to be elucidated. Several structural classes of compounds have been shown to exert histone deacetylase inhibition, including sodium n-butyrate, suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid, LAQ Read More

Membrane disrupting lytic peptides are abundant in nature and serve insects, invertebrates, vertebrates and humans as defense molecules. Initially, these peptides attracted attention as antimicrobial agents; later, the sensitivity of tumor cells to lytic peptides was discovered. In the last decade intensive research has been conducted to determine how lytic peptides lyse bacteria and tumor cells. A number of synthetic pep Read More

Targeting toxic therapeutics to tumors through receptors over expressed on the surface of cancer cells can reduce systemic toxicity and increase the effectiveness of the targeted compounds. Small molecule targeted therapeutics have a number of advantages over toxic immunoconjugates including better tumor penetration, lack of neutralizing host immune response and superior flexibility in selection of drug components wi Read More

Although monoclonal antibodies have demonstrated clinical potentials as tumor targeting agents, poor tumor penetration of the antibodies due to the size of molecules and liver / bone marrow toxicity by non-specific uptake of the antibodies are the two major limitations of antibody therapy. Peptidic targeting agents may ease the problems associated with antibody cancer therapy. Combinatorial libraries displayed on microor Read More

Accumulating evidence in literature suggests that amidated and non-amidated gastrins (gastrin precursors) may play an important role in the proliferation and carcinogenesis of gastrointestinal and pancreatic cancers, especially in the presence of DNA damaging agents and / or infectious agents. Amidated gastrins appear to have a protective role, while progastrins exert growth promoting effects in cancers. Several recept Read More

The glycolipid-anchored receptor for urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPAR) is essential for cell-surface associated plasminogen activation and is overexpressed at the invasive tumor-stromal microenvironment in many human cancers. In line with this, uPAR and uPA levels in both resected tumor tissue and plasma are of independent prognostic significance for patient survival in several types of human cancer. As t Read More

The contribution of small molecular weight chemoattractant cytokines (chemokines) and their receptors in the trafficking of tumor, immune and vascular cells pertaining to the development and progression of cancer has begun to be investigated. The current literature indicates that interactions between the immune network, angiogenic and cell survival cascades are important for the trafficking and progression of hu Read More

Isoprenoids, a diverse group of compounds derived from the five-carbon building units isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP) and its isomer dimethylallyl diphosphate (DMAPP), are essential for survival in all organisms. Animals synthesize their isoprenoids from mevalonic acid (MVA), whereas most pathogenic bacteria and the malaria parasites utilize a completely different pathway for IPP and DMAPP synthesis, the methylerythritol p Read More

As a non-toxic endogenous antioxidant, the semi-essential amino acid taurine is a potential attenuator of oxidative damage such as that produced by ischaemia-reperfusion injury. Ischaemia-reperfusion injury is a well established if paradoxical phenomenon whereby ischaemic tissue, doomed to necrosis if it is not reperfused, is actually further damaged by oxidative attack when perfusion is restored. This paper is a review of the li Read More