Duguetia gardneriana, popularly known in the Brazilian northeast as "jaquinha", is a species belonging to the family Annonaceae. The aim of this work was to assess the chemical composition and antitumor properties of the essential oil from the leaves of D. gardneriana in experimental models. The chemical composition of the essential oil was analyzed via gas chromatography-flame ionization detec...

We have recently reported that evodiamine can suppress in vitro invasion and lung metastasis by colon 26-L5 carcinoma cells. To extend our study, we examine here the anti-invasive and metastatic effects of evodiamine on Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC) and B16-F10 melanoma in addition to colon 26-L5 carcinoma. Critical structures of evodiamine for the activities were also evaluated by comparison with...

Recombinant desulfatohirudin (r-hirudin), a highly specific inhibitor of tImmillili, was examined to determine whether it would inhibit produc tion of experimental lung metastasis by B16-F10 melanoma cells. In in vitro assays using mouse plasma, the high level of procoagulant activity in B16-F10 cells was significantly inhibited by r-hirudin in a dosedependent manner. From 15 to 120 min after s...

PURPOSE Prenyl ammonium iodides (Amino-Prenols, APs), semi-synthetic polyprenol derivatives were studied as prospective novel gene transfer agents. METHODS AP-7, -8, -11 and -15 (aminoprenols composed of 7, 8, 11 or 15 isoprene units, respectively) were examined for their capacity to form complexes with pDNA, for cytotoxicity and ability to transfect genes to cells. RESULTS All the carriers...

The Tyr-Ile-Gly-Ser-Arg (YIGSR) peptide derived from the laminin B1 chain has been shown to decrease tumor growth and metastasis. Utilizing the multimeric antigen peptide system assembled on a branched lysine core, we synthesized several sizes of multimeric YIGSR, (CH3CO-Tyr-Ile-Gly-Ser-Arg-Gly)16-Lys8-Lys4-Lys2 -Lys-Gly [(Ac-YIGSRG)16 K8K4K2KG] (designated Ac-Y16), (Ac-YIGSRG)8K4K2KG (Ac-Y8), ...

One of the preconditions of effective anticancer therapy is efficient transfer of the therapeutic agent (chemotherapeutic) to tumor cells. Fundamental barriers making drug delivery and action difficult include underoxygenation, elevated interstitial pressure, poor and abnormal tumor blood vascular network and acidic tumor milieu. In this study we aimed at developing an optimized scheme of admin...

Although hyaluronan (HA), a high molecular weight glycosaminoglycan, is generally believed to regulate tumor growth, invasion, and metastasis, functional roles of HA have only been speculated indirectly from the outcome of blocking HA receptors (e.g., CD44). Using a phage display technique, we recently developed a synthetic peptide (GAHWQFNALTVR; Pep-1) that binds to and inhibits the function o...

Equisetum ramosissimum, a genus of Equisetaceae, is a medicinal plant that can be separated into ethyl acetate (EA), dichloromethane (DM), n-hexane (Hex), methanol (MeOH), and water extracts. EA extract was known to have potent antioxidative properties, reducing power, DPPH scavenging activity, and metal ion chelating activity. This study compared these five extracts in terms of their inhibitin...

As an approach to search for chemopreventive agents, we tested p-coumaric acid, 3-methoxy-p-coumaric acid (ferulic acid), and 3,5-dimethoxy-p-coumaric acid (sinapic acid) in B16/F10 melanoma cells. Intracellular melanin contents were determined by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide assay and cytotoxicity of the compounds were examined by lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) re...