Although considerable effort and progress has been made in the search for new anticancer drugs and treatments in the last several decades, cancer remains a major public health problem and one of the major causes of death worldwide. Many sources, including plants, animals, and minerals, are of interest in cancer research because of the possibility of identifying novel molecular therapeutics. Moreover, structure-activity-relationship (SAR) investigations have become a common way to develop naturally derived or semi-synthetic molecular analogues with improved efficacy and decreased toxicity. In 2012, approximately 138 molecules from marine sources, including isolated compounds and their associated analogues, were shown to be promising anticancer drugs. Among these, 62% are novel compounds. In this report, we review the marine compounds identified in 2012 that may serve as novel anticancer drugs.

Abstract. Agelanthus dodoneifolius DC Danser (Loranthaceae)is used for the treatment of various diseases including asthma. The aqueous and hydroalcoholic extracts have been reported to have anti-inflammatory, spasmolytic and bronchorelaxant activities. The present study investigates the effects of the aqueous decoction and the diethyl ether, ethyl acetate and butanolic fractions of Agelanthus dodoneifolius DC Danser (Loranthaceae) on reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and myeloperoxidase (MPO) release by phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA)-stimulated equine neutrophils and on purified equine MPO activity. ROS production and MPO release by the PMA-stimulated neutrophils were measured by the lucigenin-enhanced chemiluminescence and ELISA assays, respectively. Specific immunological extraction followed by enzymatic detection (SIEFED) was used to specifically measure the equine MPO activity. Identification and quantification of the individual and total phenolic and flavonoid compounds were performed using UPLC-MS/MS equipment and colorimetric methods involving Folin-Ciocalteu and AlCl 3 , respectively. All the tested extracts displayed dose-dependent inhibitory effects on the oxidant activities of neutrophils; a stronger effect was observed with the organic fractions than the aqueous decoction. These findings could be correlated with a high content of phenolic and flavonoid compounds. The results confirm the previously shown anti-inflammatory effect of Agelanthus dodoneifolius and its potential use for the treatment of neutrophil-dependent inflammatory diseases. IntroductionPolymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) are the primary effector cells in host responses to injury and infection (1-4). The antimicrobial function of stimulated PMNs is based on their phagocytic capacity and their ability to release oxidant and proteolytic enzymes as well as reactive oxygen species (ROS) involved in the destruction of microorganisms. ROS play important roles in the pathogenesis of various serious diseases, such as neurodegenerative disorders, aging, cancer, cataracts, inflammation and cardiovascular diseases including atherosclerosis (5,6).Myeloperoxidase (MPO), a heme peroxidase enzyme stored in the azurophilic granules of neutrophils, plays a crucial role in the destruction of bacteria inside PMNs. The bacterial killing process mainly uses hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) and the chloride anion (Cl -) to produce hypochlorous

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The ethyl acetate and n-butanolic subfractions of Agelanthus dodoneifolius were investigated for their antioxidant and antimyeloperoxidase (MPO) activities. The reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation was assessed by lucigenin-enhanced chemiluminescence (CL) and dichlorofluorescein- (DCF-) induced fluorescence techniques from phorbol myristate acetate- (PMA-) stimulated equine neutrophils and human myeloid cell line HL-60, respectively. In parallel, the effects of the tested subfractions were evaluated on the total MPO release by stimulated neutrophils and on the specific MPO activity by means of immunological assays. The results showed the potent activity of the butanolic subfraction, at least in respect of the chemiluminescence test (IC50 = 0.3 ± 0.1 µg/mL) and the ELISA and SIEFED assays (IC50 = 2.8 ± 1.2 µg/mL and 1.3 ± 1.0 µg/mL), respectively. However, the ethyl acetate subfraction was found to be the most potent in the DCF assay as at the highest concentration, DCF fluorescence intensity decreases of about 50%. Moreover, we demonstrated that the ethyl acetate subfraction was rich in catechin (16.51%) while it was not easy to identify the main compounds in the butanolic subfraction using the UPLC-MS/MS technique. Nevertheless, taken together, our results provide evidence that Agelanthus dodoneifolius subfractions may represent potential sources of natural antioxidants and of antimyeloperoxidase compounds.