title: Natural products and derivatives as leads to cell cycle pathway targets in cancer chemotherapy.
abstract: The influence of natural products upon drug discovery in general has been quite impressive; one only has to look at the number of clinically active drugs that are in use in cancer therapy to see how many either are natural products or have a natural pro-duct pharmacophore. What is now becoming quite apparent is that materials from natural sources are excellent probes (indicators) for cellular targets that when modulated, may well have a deleterious effect upon the cycling of a tumor cell through the conventional cell cycle. If the particular target is not expressed in normal cell cycling, then a directed "perturbation" of the tumor cell's cycle may well lead to a novel method of treatment for specific tumor types. In this review we have not attempted to be exhaustive but have given a current overview of how natural products from marine, microbial and plant sources have permitted in-depth analyses of various parts of the cell cycle under varying conditions with the ultimate aims of attempting to "control or perturb" the cycling of tumor cells in a fashion that permits their ultimate removal via cellular death, with a minimum of trauma to the host.
authors.affiliation: Natural Products Branch, Developmental Therapeutics Program, Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. newmand@mail.nih.gov
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Newman
authors.forename: Gordon M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Cragg
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Holbeck
authors.forename: Edward A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Sausville
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001688:Biological Products / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000737:chemistry; D002453:Cell Cycle / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D001688:Biological Products