Fourteen arenecarbaldehyde 2-pyridinylhydrazone derivatives have been synthesized and evaluated for their cytotoxic potential against four cancer cell lines using the MTT assay. The products were characterized by 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and HRMS, and the cytotoxicity results were expressed as the concentration that induced 50% inhibition of cell growth (IC ₅₀) in μM. The most active compound was 2-pyridinecarbaldehyde 2-pyridinylhydrazone, with an IC50 value of 0.96 μM, which displayed potent and selective activity against the human prostate cancer cell line, PC3, similar to the antineoplastic drug doxorubicin.

This study explores the inhibitory effect of triptolide on ovarian cancer cells through in vitro cell and in vivo animal model experiments. We use the CCK-8 survival rate experiment to determine appropriate concentration of triptolide and the type of cell line including SF9, HEK293, A2780 and Skov-3. Furthermore, the cell invasion and migration of A2780 and Skov-3 cells shows that triptolide had a strong inhibitory effect on ovarian cancer cell line. In addition, flow cytometry is used to detect the apoptosis and cycle of A2780 cells. The results prove that the proliferation of ovarian cancer cell lines is significantly inhibited by triptolide at a 200 nmol/L concentration. Finally, in vivo animal model shows a strong inhibitory effect of triptolide with a 200 nmol/L concentration on ovarian cancer. However, HE staining of animal liver, kidney and ovarian tissue section reveals that there is a stronger effect of 200 nmol/L triptolide on the damage of living organs coming from its toxicity. The result offers a chance for reasonable safety use of triptolide.

As cancer is one of humanity’s biggest killers in the world, scientists have been looking for different drugs as agents to treat cancer. However, current chemotherapeutics is not sufficiently effective. Thiosemicarbazone complexes of transition metals have attracted wide attention due to a great effect of anticancer activity with different mechanisms including ribonucleotide reductase inhibition, metal dependent radical damage, DNA binding, and inhibition of protein synthesis, and so on. In this minireview, we summarize different metal chelators of thiosemicarbazones and their anticancer mechanisms, which are useful for the development of thiosemicarbazone as anticancer drugs.

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is a kind of cell membrane surface receptor with tyrosine kinase activity, which is closely related to the growth, proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, metastasis and other processes of tumor cells. Targeting EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors has become a hot topic for drug development for treatment of non-small-cell cancer (NSCLC). Herein, we summarized recent advances on the targeted therapeutic drugs for NSCLC in recent years.

Diterpenoid alkaloids are a diverse group of natural products with significant structural complexity and bioactivities, including anti-inflammatory, anti-arrhythmia, analgesia, local anesthetic, muscle relaxant, hypotensive, anti-tumor and immune regulation. In this article, we summarized the progress in antitumor activity of diterpenoid alkaloids to provide ideas for medicinal development prospects of antitumor.

Skin is the largest human organ, which always suffered from environmental stresses, as well as extrinsic and intrinsic noxious agents. Although skin can take different protective mechanisms to maintain balance, excessive stresses can disrupt these systems, resulting in the formation of skin cancers, including both melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers. Phytochemicals are biologically active compounds derived from plants and herbal products, which appear to be beneficial in the battle against cancer as they exhibit anti-cancer effects and are inexpensive, widely available, and well tolerated. Studies have demonstrated that phytochemicals can act on various cellular processes including cell cycle, apoptosis and redox metastasis to inhibit the development and progression of skin cancer. This article mainly focuses on the progress in anti-skin cancer activity of phytochemicals and underlying molecular mechanisms, which will hopefully provide valuable insights into clinical applications of phytochemicals for treatment of skin cancers.