Author: Efferth, Thomas

Source: Current Drug Targets, Volume 7, Number 4, April 2006 , pp. 407-421(15)

Publisher: Bentham Science Publishers

Abstract:

Secondary metabolites from plants can serve as defense against herbivores, microbes, viruses or competing plants. Many compounds from medicinal plants have pharmacological activities and thus may be a source for novel antitumor agents. We have analyzed natural products from traditional Chinese medicine during the past decade and focused our interest on the compound artemisinin from Artemisia annua L. (qinghao, sweet wormwood) and its derivatives. In addition to their anti-malarial properties, artemisinins are cytotoxic for cancer cells. The present review focuses on the mechanisms of action of artemisinins in cancer cells relating to: 1. anti-proliferative and anti-angiogenic effects, 2. induction of apoptosis, 3. oxidative stress, 4. oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, and 5. multidrug resistance. Data on putative target molecules of artemisinins are presented and discussed, e.g. the translationally controlled tumor protein (TCTP). Emphasis is given to pharmacogenomic approaches to analyze the pleiotropic nature of mechanisms of artemisinins in cancer cells.

Keywords: Angiogenesis; Apoptosis; Multidrug resistance; Oncogenes; Oxidative stress; Pharmacogenomics; Sesquiterpene lactones; Traditional Chinese medicine; Tumor suppressor genes

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/138945006776359412

Affiliations: 1: German Cancer Research Center, M070, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.

Publication date: 2006-04-01

More about this publication?

• Current Drug Targets aims to cover the latest and most outstanding developments on the medicinal chemistry and pharmacology of molecular drug targets e.g. disease specific proteins, receptors, enzymes, genes. Each issue of the journal will be devoted to a single timely topic, with series of in-depth reviews, written by leaders in the field, covering a range of current topics on drug targets. These issues will be organized and led by a guest editor who is a recognized expert in the overall topic. As the discovery, identification, characterisation and validation of novel human drug targets for drug discovery continues to grow; this journal will be essential reading for all pharmaceutical scientists involved in drug discovery and development.

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