Introduction: For thousands of years, plants have been used as the main source of drug worldwide. Recently, it has been found out that the plant Artemisia annua and especially its derivatives such as artemether have anticancer properties. Methods: In this study, the anticancer effect of artemether on MCF-7 breast cancer cell line was examined. MTT assay was used to assess the viability of c...

We designed, synthesized, and evaluated in vitro and in vivo a novel targeted anticancer polymeric prodrug containing multiple copies of tumor targeting moiety [synthetic luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) peptide, analog of LHRH] and anticancer drug (camptothecin). One, two, or three molecules of the targeting peptide and anticancer drug were covalently conjugated with bis(2-carboxye...

PURPOSE We evaluated the higher levels of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) secreted by the LoVo human colon carcinoma cells in a medium containing anticancer drugs. Drug-resistant LoVo cells were analyzed by subcutaneously xenotransplanting them into mice. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the drug-resistant cells isolated in this study were cancer-initiating cells, known also as canc...

An increasing number of cancer patients are using complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) in combination with their conventional chemotherapeutic treatment. Considering the narrow therapeutic window of oncolytic drugs, this CAM use increases the risk of clinically relevant herb-anticancer drug interactions. Such a relevant interaction is that of St. John's wort with the anticancer drugs i...

Systemic anticancer treatments fail in a substantial number of patients. This may be caused by inadequate uptake and penetration of drugs in malignant tumors. Consequently, improvement of drug delivery to solid tumors may enhance its efficacy. Before evaluating strategies to enhance drug uptake in tumors, better understanding of drug delivery to human tumors is needed. Positron emission tomogra...