Enicosanthellum pulchrum is a tropical plant from Malaysia and belongs to the Annonaceae family. This plant is rich in isoquinoline alkaloids. In the present study, liriodenine, an isoquinoline alkaloid, was examined as a potential anticancer agent, particularly in ovarian cancer. Liriodenine was isolated by preparative high-performance liquid chromatography. Cell viability was performed to det...

Recently, the interplay between autophagy and apoptosis has become an important factor in chemotherapy for cancer treatment. Inhibition of autophagy may be an effective strategy to improve the treatment of chemo-resistant cancer by consistent exposure to chemotherapeutic drugs. However, no reports have clearly elucidated the underlying mechanisms. Therefore, in this study, we assessed whether s...

Melanoma is the most malignant form of skin cancer and is associated with a very poor prognosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the apoptotic effects of cudraflavone C on A375.S2 melanoma cells and to determine the underlying mechanisms involved in apoptosis. Cell viability was determined using the MTT and real-time cytotoxicity assays. Flow cytometric evaluation of apoptosis was perform...

Oridonin, a diterpenoid isolated from Rabdosia rubescencs, has been reported to have antitumor effects. However, low solubility has limited its clinical applications. Preparation of drugs in the form of nanosuspensions is an extensively utilized protocol. In this study, we investigated the anticancer activity of oridonin and oridonin nanosuspension on human pancreatic carcinoma PANC-1 cells. 3-...

BACKGROUND The survival of endometriotic cells in the ectopic site has been investigated from the aspect of susceptibility of endometriotic tissues to apoptosis. In order to investigate the nature of abnormal survival of endometriotic cells in ectopic locations, we compared drug-induced apoptosis in endometrial and endometriotic cells. METHODS Endometrial stromal cells were obtained from norm...

9-Methoxycamptothecin (MCPT) was found to have antitumour activities through topoisomerase inhibition. However, the type of cell death induced in the tumour cells treated with MCPT was not elucidated. In this study, MCPT and camptothecin were isolated from Nothapodytes foetida distributed in Hubei Province, China and identified by NMR spectroscopy. MCPT was tested by the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-...

BACKGROUND Methods widely used to detect apoptosis do not allow us to easily distinguish between nuclei from viable or necrotic cells. Even if apoptosis and necrosis seem to occur as alternatives at the single cell level, they could be present simultaneously in a cell population much more frequently than expected. For this reason, attention was focused on attempting to recognize, by multiparame...

A series of novel peptidomimetics bearing dehydroepiandrosterone moiety were designed, synthesized, and evaluated for their inhibition activities against cell proliferation. According to the preliminary studies on inhibitory activities, some of the newly prepared compounds indicated significantly inhibition activities against human hepatoma cancer (HepG2), human lung cancer (A549), human melano...

A novel series of hybrids (7a-l, 8a-l) from β-carboline and salicylic acid (SA) were designed and synthesized, and their in vitro biological activities were evaluated. Most of the hybrids displayed potent antiproliferative activity against five cancer cell lines in vitro, showing potencies superior to 5-FU and harmine. In particular, compound 8h selectively inhibited proliferation of liver canc...

Methylglyoxal (MG) is a ubiquitous metabolite derived from glycolysis; however, this aldehyde kills all types of cell. We analyzed the properties of MG-induced cell death of the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The MCA1 gene encodes a caspase homologue that is involved in H2O2-induced apoptosis in yeast, although the disruption of MCA1 did not repress sensitivity to MG. In addition, the ...