no / The plant derived indoloquinoline alkaloid cryptolepine was investigated for its cytotoxic properties in 12 human tumour cell lines and in primary cultures of tumour cells from patients. The fluorometric microculture cytotoxicity assay was used to assess cytotoxicity and DNA mocro-array analysis to evaluate gene expression. Cryptolepine mean IC50 in the cell line panel was 0.9 microM compared with 1.0 and 2.8 microM in haemaotological and solid tumour malignancies respectively. Among patient solid tumour samples, those from breast cancer were the most sensitive and essentially as sensitive as haematological malignancies, respectively. Among patient solid tumour samples, those from breast cancer were the most sensitive and essentially as senstive as haematological malignancies. Cryptolepine activity showed highest correlations to topoisomerase II and microtubule targetting drugs. In the cell lines cryptolepine activity was essentially unaffected by established mechanisms of drug resistance. A number of genes were identified as associated with cryptolepine activity. In conclusion, cryptolepine shows interesting in vitro cytotoxic properties and its further evaluation as an anticancer drug seems warranted.

Despite decades of intense research, malaria remains a deadly worldwide disease. Resistance of Plasmodium falciparum to chemical treatment still remains important. Efforts are now being directed towards the discovery and development of new chemically diverse anti-malarial agents. In the course of the search for new antimalarial compounds, a study of plants traditionally used against malaria by the people inhabiting the forests located near Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India was made, which permitted the identification of 34 plants currently used. Among these, 27 plants were selected for testing for antiplasmodial activity aimed at identifying the most effective plants for further research. Also, their activities were compared with 27 randomly collected plant species in order to asess the value of an ethno-medical approach.

Association of Commonwealth Universities. Commonwealth Scholarship Commission. United Kingdom.