Polyphenols have been reported to have wide spectrum of biological activities including major impact on initiation, promotion, and progression of cancer by modulating different signalling pathways. Colorectal cancer is the second most major cause of mortality and morbidity among females and the third among males. The objective of this review is to describe the activity of a variety of polyphenols in colorectal cancer in clinical trials, preclinical studies, and primary research. The molecular mechanisms of major polyphenols related to their beneficial effects on colorectal cancer are also addressed. Synthetic modifications and other future directions towards exploiting of natural polyphenols against colorectal cancer are discussed in the last section.

We report herein the synthesis, structural characterization and activity against human ovarian tumour models: A2780 (parent), A2780^cisR (resistant to cisplatin) and A2780^ZD0473R (resistant to the cisplatin analogue denoted as ZD0473) of two ferrocene incorporated N,N′-disubstituted thioureas {1-benzoyl-3-(4-ferrocenylphenyl)thiourea, B16, and 1-acetyl-3-(4-ferrocenylphenyl)thiourea, B3}. Structural characterization has been based on FT-IR, multinuclear (¹H and ¹³C) NMR, elemental analysis and single crystal X-ray diffractometry. Ferrocene-incorporated thioureas may present themselves as a new class of metal-based tumour active compounds. The cyclic voltammetric measurements indicate that B16 undergoes partial intercalation with the CT-DNA whereas B3 undergoes only electrostatic interaction with the same. Partial prevention of BamH1 digestion of pBR322 plasmid DNA that has been interacted with high concentrations of both B16 and B3 indicates that even non-covalent interactions can induce significant conformational changes in the DNA.

Background and objectives: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that results in severe dementia. Having ischemic strokes (IS) is one of the risk factors of the AD, but the molecular mechanisms that underlie IS and AD are not well understood. We thus aimed to identify common molecular biomarkers and pathways in IS and AD that can help predict the progression of these diseases and provide clues to important pathological mechanisms. Materials and Methods: We have analyzed the microarray gene expression datasets of IS and AD. To obtain robust results, combinatorial statistical methods were used to analyze the datasets and 26 transcripts (22 unique genes) were identified that were abnormally expressed in both IS and AD. Results: Gene Ontology (GO) and KEGG pathway analyses indicated that these 26 common dysregulated genes identified several altered molecular pathways: Alcoholism, MAPK signaling, glycine metabolism, serine metabolism, and threonine metabolism. Further protein–protein interactions (PPI) analysis revealed pathway hub proteins PDE9A, GNAO1, DUSP16, NTRK2, PGAM2, MAG, and TXLNA. Transcriptional and post-transcriptional components were then identified, and significant transcription factors (SPIB, SMAD3, and SOX2) found. Conclusions: Protein–drug interaction analysis revealed PDE9A has interaction with drugs caffeine, γ-glutamyl glycine, and 3-isobutyl-1-methyl-7H-xanthine. Thus, we identified novel putative links between pathological processes in IS and AD at transcripts levels, and identified possible mechanistic and gene expression links between IS and AD.

Background: Ovarian cancer remains an on-going challenge mainly due to the development of drug resistance and also because the cancer is likely to have metastasized at the time of diagnosis. Currently, chemotherapy based on platinum drugs such as cisplatin is the primary treatment for the disease. Copper transporter 1 is involved in the transport of cisplatin into the cell, but is also down-regulated by the drug. Bortezomib, a proteasome inhibitor, has been reported to block this platinum-induced down-regulation of CTR1, so that in the presence of bortezomib, the cellular uptake of platinum drugs may be increased. Increased platinum accumulation may result in increased platinum − DNA binding so that the platinum drug in combination with bortezomib may produce enhanced cell kill.Methods: In this study the efficacy of the sequential combinations of carboplatin, oxaliplatin and atrans-platinum compound coded as CH1 with BORT on the human ovarian A2780, A2780^cisR, A2780^ZD0473Rand SKOV-3 cancer cell lines was evaluated. The levels of cellular platinum accumulation and platinum-DNA binding were determined following the treatment with these combinations. In order to investigate the effect of the combinations of the formation of ROS, the total and oxidized glutathione levels were also determined.Results: Prevention of copper transporter 1 degradation by bortezomib is found to enhance the cellular accumulation of platinum, the level of Platinum − DNA binding and increases oxidative stress especially in the resistant cell lines.Conclusions: The results suggest that the prevention of CTR1 degradation by bortezomib may be playing a major role in increasing the cellular uptake of platinum drugs and platinum-DNA binding level. Furthermore, the generation of oxidative stress appears to be a major contributor to the enhanced cell kill.