From the aerial parts of Decatropis bicolor, heraclenin (1), seselin (2), psoralen (3), imperatorin (4), skimmianine (5), and heraclenol (6), were isolated. This is the first time that coumarin-like compounds are isolated from Decatropis genus. The anti-inflammatory properties of compounds 1 - 6 were examined against the ear edema in mice produced by TPA. The results suggest that the anti-inflammatory activity of each compound depends of its individual substitution on the aromatic ring rather than the coumarin skeleton itself.

Despite the fact that bacterial infections are one of the leading causes of death worldwide and that mortality rates are increasing at alarming rates, no new antibiotics have been produced by the pharmaceutical industry in more than a decade. The situation is so dire that the World Health Organization warned that we may enter a “post-antibiotic era” within this century; accordingly, bacteria resistant against all known antibiotics are becoming common and already producing untreatable infections. Although several novel approaches to combat bacterial infections have been proposed, they have yet to be implemented in clinical practice. Hence, we propose that a more plausible and faster approach is the utilization of drugs originally developed for other purposes besides antimicrobial activity. Among these are some anticancer molecules proven effective in vitro for eliminating recalcitrant, multidrug tolerant bacteria; some of which also protect animals from infections and recently are undergoing clinical trials. In this review, we highlight the similarities between cancer cells/tumors and bacterial infections, and present evidence that supports the utilization of some anticancer drugs, including 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), gallium (Ga) compounds, and mitomycin C, as antibacterials. Each of these drugs has some promising properties such as broad activity (all three compounds), dual antibiotic and antivirulence properties (5-FU), efficacy against multidrug resistant strains (Ga), and the ability to kill metabolically dormant persister cells which cause chronic infections (mitomycin C).

The Kingdom Plantae has provided several successful drugs for the treatment of different diseases, including cancer, and continues to be a source of new possible therapeutic molecules. For example, the annonaceous acetogenins (AAs) are secondary metabolites found in the Annonaceae family, which are plants employed in traditional medicine for the treatment of cancer and various other diseases. These polyketides are inhibitors of Complex I in the respiratory chain of tumor cells, a process that is closely related to tumor metabolism, cell death, apoptosis, and autophagy. The goal of this review is to update readers on the role of the AAs as antitumor agents using in vitro and in vivo studies to demonstrate their importance in the area of oncology drug discovery. For this purpose, we performed a literature search in the PubMed scientific database using a range of keywords, including acetogenins and cancer, acetogenins antitumor activity, acetogenins and cytotoxicity, and acetogenins mechanism of action, among others. As a result, we found that the AAs are cytotoxic compounds that can induce apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, and autophagy in vitro, in addition to exhibiting tumor growth inhibition in vivo. The functional group related to their antineoplastic activity is suggested to be the mono or bis tetrahydrofuran ring accompanied by two or more hydroxy groups. The versatility of the AA bioactivity therefore renders them potential therapeutic agents for cancer treatment. It is therefore apparent that nature is worth further examination to aid in the discovery of more effective, accurate, and less harmful therapies in the fight against cancer.