BACKGROUND Marine sponge is a rich natural resource of many pharmacologically important compounds. OBJECTIVE Marine sponge Hyrtios erectus, collected from North Bay, South Andaman Sea, India, was screened for potential antiproliferative and proapoptotic properties on a breast adenocarcinoma cell line (MCF-7). MATERIALS AND METHODS 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide...

BACKGROUND DNA methylation is an important mechanism for gene silencing and has already been described for several genes in breast cancer. A previous immunohistochemistry study demonstrated a decrease of K(v)1.3 potassium channel expression in breast adenocarcinoma compared to normal breast tissue. METHODS Methyl-specific PCR (MSP), immunohistochemistry and RNA extraction were performed on br...

In the search for novel cytotoxic agents, sesquiterpenoids and phenylpropanoids have provided interesting lead compounds. From the chloroform extract of the underground parts of Laserpitium latifolium, the daucane sesquiterpenoids laserpitin and acetyldesoxodehydrolaserpitin, and the phenylpropanoids laserin and latifolon were isolated as the major compounds. Acetyldesoxodehydrolaserpitin is id...

Marine Streptomyces are prolific producers of majority of bioactive secondary metabolites which are used in pharmaceutical industry as effective drugs against life threatening diseases. The cytotoxic activity of the pure compound 1, 2- benzene dicarboxylic acid, mono 2- ethylhexyl ester (DMEHE) from marine derived actinomycete Streptomyces sp. VITSJK8 was investigated against mouse embryonic fi...

BACKGROUND Lichens that were used in traditional medicine for ages produce numerous secondary metabolites, however our knowledge about biological activities of substances secreted by separated bionts is scarce. The main objectives of this study were to isolate and find optimal conditions for the growth of mycelia from three common lichen-forming fungi, i.e. Caloplaca pusilla, Protoparmeliopsis ...

Statins are known to inhibit growth of a number of cancer cells, but their mechanism of action is not well established. In this study, human prostate adenocarcinoma PC-3 and breast adenocarcinoma MCF-7 cell lines were used as models to investigate the mechanism of action of atorvastatin, one of the statins. Atorvastatin was found to induce apoptosis in PC-3 cells at a concentration of 1 μM, and...

Previous reports have suggested that the ablation of the Period 2 gene (Per 2) leads to enhanced development of lymphoma and leukemia in mice. Employing immunoblot analyses, we have demonstrated that PER 2 is endogenously expressed in human breast epithelial cell lines but is not expressed or is expressed at significantly reduced level in human breast cancer cell lines. Expression of PER 2 in M...

BACKGROUND Shikonin derivatives have cytotoxic and antitumor effects. This study aims to investigate the antitumor effects of acetylshikonin isolated from a Chinese medicinal herb Arnebia euchroma (Royle) Johnst. METHODS The 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol- 2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay was used to determine the in vitro antitumor effects of acetylshikonin on human lung adenocarcin...

The present article describes the isolation of a new natural product of the lobophorin family, designated as lobophorin K (1), from cultures of the marine actinobacteria Streptomyces sp. M-207, previously isolated from the cold-water coral Lophelia pertusa collected at 1800 m depth during an expedition to the submarine Avilés Canyon. Its structure was determined using a combination of spectrosc...

Synthesis of some pyrimidine derivatives which plays an important role in the medicinal chemistry because it possesses promising cytotoxic activity. The synthesized compounds were characterized by UV-Visible and FT-IR spectral data. Some of the new compounds were evaluated for their potential cytotoxicity against two different human cancer cell lines HepG2 (hepatocellular carcinoma) and MCF-7 (...