0000000000281675

AUTHOR

Edna Ooko

Modulation of P-glycoprotein activity by novel synthetic curcumin derivatives in sensitive and multidrug-resistant T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia cell lines

Abstract Background Multidrug resistance (MDR) and drug transporter P-glycoprotein (P-gp) represent major obstacles in cancer chemotherapy. We investigated 19 synthetic curcumin derivatives in drug-sensitive acute lymphoblastic CCRF–CEM leukemia cells and their multidrug-resistant P-gp-overexpressing subline, CEM/ADR5000. Material and methods Cytotoxicity was tested by resazurin assays. Doxorubicin uptake was assessed by flow cytometry. Binding modes of compounds to P-gp were analyzed by molecular docking. Chemical features responsible for bioactivity were studied by quantitative structure activity relationship (QSAR) analyses. A 7-descriptor QSAR model was correlated with doxorubicin uptak…

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Artemisinin derivatives induce iron-dependent cell death (ferroptosis) in tumor cells

Abstract Background Apoptosis and other forms of cell death have been intensively investigated in the past years to explain the mode of action of synthetic anticancer drugs and natural products. Recently, a new form of cell death emerged, which was termed ferroptosis, because it depends on intracellular iron. Here, the role of genes involved in iron metabolism and homeostasis for the cytotoxicity of ten artemisinin derivatives have been systematically investigated. Material and methods Log10IC50 values of 10 artemisinin derivatives (artesunate, artemether, arteether, artenimol, artemisitene, arteanuin B, another monomeric artemisinin derivative and three artemisinin dimer molecules) were co…

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Biopiracy of natural products and good bioprospecting practice

Made available in DSpace on 2018-11-26T16:27:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2016-02-15 Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Background: Biopiracy mainly focuses on the use of biological resources and/or knowledge of indigenous tribes or communities without allowing them to share the revenues generated out of economic exploitation or other non-monetary incentives associated with the resource/knowledge. Methods: Based on collaborations of scientists from five continents, we have created a communication platform to discuss not only scientific topics, but also more general issues with social relevance. This platform was termed 'PhytCancer -Phytotherapy to Fight Cancer' (www.phy…

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Biopiracy versus One-World Medicine-From colonial relicts to global collaborative concepts.

Abstract Background Practices of biopiracy to use genetic resources and indigenous knowledge by Western companies without benefit-sharing of those, who generated the traditional knowledge, can be understood as form of neocolonialism. Hypothesis The One-World Medicine concept attempts to merge the best of traditional medicine from developing countries and conventional Western medicine for the sake of patients around the globe. Study design Based on literature searches in several databases, a concept paper has been written. Legislative initiatives of the United Nations culminated in the Nagoya protocol aim to protect traditional knowledge and regulate benefit-sharing with indigenous communiti…

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Pharmacogenomic Characterization and Isobologram Analysis of the Combination of Ascorbic Acid and Curcumin—Two Main Metabolites of Curcuma longa—in Cancer Cells

ABSTRACT Curcuma longa has long been used in China and India as anti-inflammatory agent to treat a wide variety of conditions. Here we investigated chemoprofiles of three Curcuma species and observed a great variety of phytochemicals with curcumin being among the few present in all three species. On the other hand ascorbic acid (AA) was a compound that was solely found in Curcuma longa. In the present study we explored the cytotoxic effect of a curcumin/AA combination toward human cancer cell lines. The curcumin/AA combination was assessed by isobologram analysis using the Loewe additivity drug interaction model. The drug combination showed additive cytotoxicity towards CCRF-CEM and CEM/ADR…

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