Aptamers, composed of single-stranded DNA or RNA oligonucleotides that interact with target molecules through a specific three-dimensional structure, are selected from pools of combinatorial oligonucleotide libraries. With their high specificity and affinity for target proteins, ease of synthesis and modification, and low immunogenicity and toxicity, aptamers are considered to be attractive mol...

This article presents a review about anthocyanins and shows they have anticancer property. Mechanism that may be responsible for the inhibitory effect of anthocyanins in carcinogenesis and tumor growth is either cellular redox status modification or any interference with basic cellular functions like cell cycle, apoptosis, inflammation, angiogenesis, invasion and metastasis. New anticancer agen...

Image analysis of vasculature in a tumor-derived 3D matrix shows high predictive value in discovering angiogenesis inhibitors.

S.-K. Kim Specialized Graduate School & Technology Convergence, Department of Marine-Bio Convergence Science, Marine Bioprocess Research Center, Pukyong National University, Yongdong Campus, 365, Sinseon-ro, Nam-gu, Busan 608-739, Republic of Korea e-mail: [email protected] Abstract Natural products provide an important source of new therapeutic drugs and biochemical tools. In the last decades ...

Approximately half of all patients who receive anticancer chemotherapy are treated with a platinum drug. Despite the widespread use of these drugs, the only cure that can be claimed is that of testicular cancer following cisplatin treatment. This article reviews some of our recent work on phenanthriplatin, a cisplatin derivative in which a chloride ion is replaced by phenanthridine, and on one ...

Carcinogenesis cannot be explained only by genetic alterations, but also involves epigenetic processes. Modification of histones by acetylation plays a key role in epigenetic regulation of gene expression and is controlled by the balance between histone deacetylases (HDAC) and histone acetyltransferases (HAT). HDAC inhibitors induce cancer cell cycle arrest, differentiation and cell death, redu...

Many conventional anticancer treatments kill cells irrespective of whether they are normal or cancerous, so patients suffer from adverse side effects due to the loss of healthy cells. Anticancer insights derived from cell cycle research has given birth to the idea of cell cycle G2 checkpoint abrogation as a cancer cell specific therapy, based on the discovery that many cancer cells have a defec...

Marine floras, such as bacteria, actinobacteria, cyanobacteria, fungi, microalgae, seaweeds, mangroves, and other halophytes are extremely important oceanic resources, constituting over 90% of the oceanic biomass. They are taxonomically diverse, largely productive, biologically active, and chemically unique offering a great scope for discovery of new anticancer drugs. The marine floras are rich...

Despite the crucial roles dendritic cells (DC) play in host immunity against cancer, the pharmacologic effects of many chemotherapeutic agents have remained mostly unknown. We recently developed a DC biosensor clone by engineering the stable murine DC line XS106 to express the yellow fluorescent protein (YFP) gene under the control of interleukin (IL)-1beta promoter. In this study, the resultin...