Mitochondria are essential cellular organelles, controlling multiple signalling pathways critical for cell survival and cell death. Increasing evidence suggests that mitochondrial metabolism and functions are indispensable in tumorigenesis and cancer...
Our study proposes a pharmacological strategy to target cancerous mitochondria via redox-cycling “mitocans” such as quinone/ascorbate (Q/A) redox-pairs, which makes cancer cells fragile and sensitive without adverse effects on normal cell...
Mitochondria are the key energy provider to highly proliferating cancer cells, and are subsequently considered one of the critical targets in cancer therapeutics. Several compounds have been studied for their mitochondria-targeting ability in cancer...
Currently, a new line of research on mitochondria-targeted anticancer drugs is actively developing in the field of biomedicine and medicinal chemistry. The distinguishing features of this universal target for anticancer agents include presence of mit...
1,5-Diazacyclooctane was prepared by a simple synthetic sequence and coupled to pentacyclic triterpenoic acids oleanolic acid, ursolic acid, betulinic acid, platanic acid, and asiatic acid; these amides were activated with oxalyl chloride and reacted...
Small-cell carcinoma of the ovary of hypercalcemic type (SCCOHT) and endometrial cancer from type 1 and type 2 are gynecological tumors that affect women worldwide. The treatment encompasses the use of cytotoxic drugs that are nonspecific and ineffic...
The analysis of tumor metabolism offers promising opportunities for developing new therapeutic strategies. Plant-derived polymolecular drugs can regulate cellular metabolism, making them potential candidates for treatment. This study examined the met...
Interest in tumor cell mitochondria as a pharmacological target has been rekindled in recent years. This attention is due in part to new publications documenting heterogenous characteristics of solid tumors, including anoxic and hypoxic zones that fo...
Due to their manifold biological activities, natural products such as triterpenoids have advanced to represent excellent leading structures for the development of new drugs. For this reason, we focused on the syntheses and cytotoxic evaluation of der...
Despite the use of intensive multimodality therapy, the majority of high-risk neuroblastoma (NB) patients do not survive. Without significant improvements in delivery strategies, anticancer agents used as a first-line treatment for high-risk tumors o...
Since breast cancer (BC) cells are dependent on mitochondrial bioenergetics for promoting proliferation, survival, and metastasis, mitochondria highlight as an important target for anticancer drug discovery. FRI-1, methyl 1, 3-dimethyl-5, 8-dioxo-5,...
α-Tocopheryl succinate (α-TS) and α-tocopheryloxyacetic acid (α-TEA) are potent inducers of apoptosis in cancer cells and efficient suppressors of tumors in experimental model cancer cell lines. They exhibit selective cytotoxi...
Rosamines represent one of the most promising groups of xanthene dyes. Their excellent photophysical properties allow their widespread application. Their use as photosensitizers in photodynamic therapy has recently gained considerable attention. Here...
The present work shows the cytotoxic effects of novel conjugates of ursolic, oleanolic, maslinic, and corosolic acids with the penetrating cation F16 on cancer cells (lung adenocarcinoma A549 and H1299, breast cancer cell lines MCF-7 and BT474) and n...
The transformation of normal cells to the cancerous stage involves multiple genetic changes or mutations leading to hyperproliferation, resistance to apoptosis, and evasion of the host immune system. However, to accomplish hyperproliferation, cancer...
The combination of the “correct” triterpenoid, the “correct” spacer and rhodamine B (RhoB) seems to be decisive for the ability of the conjugate to accumulate in mitochondria. So far, several triterpenoid rhodamine B conjugate...
Steviol and isosteviol were prepared from the commercially available sweetener stevioside and converted into lipophilic F16 hybrids. Their cytotoxicity was determined in SRB assays and showed to depend on both the substitution pattern of the aromatic...
Cytotoxic effects of cannabidiol (CBD) and tamoxifen (TAM) have been observed in several cancer types. We have recently shown that CBD primarily targets mitochondria, inducing a stable mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP) and, consequent...
The poor response, adverse effects and drug resistance to treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) have led to searching for safer and more effective therapeutic alternatives. We previously demonstrated that the alcoholic extract of Petiveria alliac...
Neuroblastoma (Nb), the most common extracranial tumor in children, exhibited remarkable phenotypic diversity and heterogeneous clinical behavior. Tumors with MYCN overexpression have a worse prognosis. MYCN promotes tumor progression by inducing cel...