<p><b><font face="TimesNewRomanPS-BoldMT"> <p align="left">Apoptosis is a process in which a cell programmes its own death. It is a highly organized physiological mechanism in which injured or damaged cells are destroyed. Apart from physiological stimuli however, exogenous factors can induce apoptosis. Many anti-cancer drugs work by activating apoptosis in cancer cells. Natural substances have been found to have the ability to induce apoptosis in various tumour cells and these substances have been used as templates for the construction of novel lead compounds in anticancer treatment. On the other hand, alkylating agents such as cisplatin, cis- [PtCl2 (NH3) 2]have been widely used as antineoplastic agents for a wide variety of cancers including testicular, ovarian, neck and head cancers, amongst others. However, the use of cisplatin as an anticancer agent is limited due to toxicity and resistance problems. <font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT">The aim of this present study was to screen the leaves of </font><i><font face="TimesNewRomanPS-ItalicMT">Rhus laevigata</font><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT">, a South African indigenous plant, for the presence of pro-apoptotic and anti-proliferative natural compounds and also to screen newly synthesised palladium based complexes (15 and 57) and a platinum based complex (58) for their antineoplastic activities tested against a panel of cell lines.</font></i></p> </font><font face="TimesNewRomanPS-BoldMT"> <p align="left">&nbsp / </p> </font></b></p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2001. / Bibliography: leaves 245-257.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

<p><b><font face="TimesNewRomanPS-BoldMT"> <p align="left">Apoptosis is a process in which a cell programmes its own death. It is a highly organized physiological mechanism in which injured or damaged cells are destroyed. Apart from physiological stimuli however, exogenous factors can induce apoptosis. Many anti-cancer drugs work by activating apoptosis in cancer cells. Natural substances have been found to have the ability to induce apoptosis in various tumour cells and these substances have been used as templates for the construction of novel lead compounds in anticancer treatment. On the other hand, alkylating agents such as cisplatin, cis- [PtCl2 (NH3) 2]have been widely used as antineoplastic agents for a wide variety of cancers including testicular, ovarian, neck and head cancers, amongst others. However, the use of cisplatin as an anticancer agent is limited due to toxicity and resistance problems. <font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT">The aim of this present study was to screen the leaves of </font><i><font face="TimesNewRomanPS-ItalicMT">Rhus laevigata</font><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT">, a South African indigenous plant, for the presence of pro-apoptotic and anti-proliferative natural compounds and also to screen newly synthesised palladium based complexes (15 and 57) and a platinum based complex (58) for their antineoplastic activities tested against a panel of cell lines.</font></i></p> </font><font face="TimesNewRomanPS-BoldMT"> <p align="left">&nbsp / </p> </font></b></p>

Lavendamycin, an aminoquinolinedione antibiotic is similar to streptonigrin, an antibiotic with known antiretroviral activity. Their applicability as drugs is limited due to their high toxicity to mammalian cells. A series of novel analogs of lavendamycin has been recently synthesized. In initial screening, three of the analogs showed significant inhibitory activity toward the reverse transcriptase (RT) of the avian myeloblastosis virus (AMV) and exhibited little or no animal toxicity and relatively low cellular cytotoxicity.In this study, we determined the anti-retroviral activity of nine analogs by assessing their anti-reverse transcriptase(anti-RT) activity in comparison to streptonigrin. Using both the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and AMV reverse transcriptase in vitro we found that the analogs exhibited significant anti-RT activity. The inhibitory activity of the analogs was dose dependent, and they had different effects on the two enzymes. At 30 µM seven of the analogs inhibited HIV-RT activity by 50% or more. At this concentration, two of the analogs were significantly more effective than streptonigrin. AMV-RT was more sensitive toward both streptonigrin and several of the analogs than was HIV-RT. Furthermore, combination of azidothymidine (AZT)-triphosphate (TP) and several of analogs showed synergistic inhibitory effects at low doses. / Department of Biology

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karol. inst., 2006. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2002. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.