Discovery of New Antitumoral and Antibacterial Drugs From Brazilian Plant Extracts Using High Throughput Screening

Abstract

Younes RN, Varella AD, Suffredini IB. Discovery of new antitumoral and antibacterial drugs from brazilian plant extracts using high throughput screening. Clinics. 2007;62(6):763-8.Plants have played a significant role in the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases for the last four decades. The discovery and introduction to market of paclitaxel, the vinca alkaloids, etoposide, and many antibacterial drugs support drug discovery programs based on natural products. Natural products have been rediscovered as important tools for drug development despite advances in combinatorial chemistry, due to the complex molecular structures able to interact with mammalian cell targets. The Brazilian flora, the most diverse in the world, has become an interesting spot to prospect for new chemical leads or hits due to its species diversity and associated chemical richness. Screening programs have been established in Brazil as a strategy to identify potentially active substances. High throughput screening techniques allow for the analysis of large numbers of extracts in a relatively short period of time, and can be considered one of the most efficient ways of finding new leads from natural products. An updated review of the current status of the biological screening program is presented and recent results from new antitumoral and antibacterial chemical leads are discussed.

Analysis of Brazilian Plant Extracts as Potential Source of Antioxidant Natural Products Using Bench-Top Assays

“…18 For that reason, the Amazon rain forest is one of the main spots on the planet where chemical and biological screening programs are the easiest and cheap ways of identifying plants as a potential source of new medicines. The present work reports the chemical screening of 895 plant extracts aiming the identification of their antioxidant potential, as well as to look for alkaloids, quinones [19][20] and cardenolides derivatives, 21 which are compounds already related to antioxidant activity.…”

Effect of small molecule inhibitor fisetin over proliferation of human non-small cell pulmonary carcinoma

“…Currently over 50% of anticancer drugs available in the market for therapy werederived directly or indirectly from natural source (Younes et al, 2007). Dietary factors play an important role in prevention of cancer, hence large number of dietary compounds were tested to determine their chemopreventive / antiproliferative ability in invivo / invitro model systems.…”

Antioxidant, antimicrobial and antiproliferative activities of peel and pulp extracts of red and white varieties of <i>Ipomoea batatas</i> (L) Lam

“…About 50 % pharmaceuticals currently in use are derived from natural products [4]. The discovery of anticancer drugs such as vinca alkaloids, etoposide, paclitaxel, and variety of antimicrobial drugs encourage drug-discovery programs [5].…”