Hybrid molecules of carvacrol and benzoyl urea/thiourea with potential applications in agriculture and medicine

Benzoyl phenyl urea, a class of insect growth regulator's acts by inhibiting chitin synthesis. Carvacrol, a naturally occurring monoterpenoid is an effective antifungal agent. We have structurally modified carvacrol (2-methyl-5-1-methylethyl] phenol) by introducing benzoylphenyl urea linkage. Two series of benzoylcarvacryl thiourea (BCTU, 4a-f) and benzoylcarvacryl urea (BCU, 5a-f) derivatives were prepared and characterized by elemental analysis, IR, H-1 and C-13 NMR and Mass spectroscopy. Derivatives 4b, 4d, 4e, 4f and 5d, 5f showed comparable insecticidal activity with the standard BPU lufenuron against Dysdercus koenigii. BCTU derivatives 4c, 4e and BCU 5c showed good antifungal activity against phytopathogenic fungi viz. Magnaporthe grisae, Fusarium oxysporum, Dreschlera oryzae; food spoilage yeasts viz. Debaromyces hansenii, Pichia membranifaciens; and human pathogens viz. Candida albicans and Cryptococcus neoformans. Compounds 5d, 5e and 5f showed potent activity against human pathogens. Moderate and selective activity was observed for other compounds. All the synthesized compounds were non-haemolytic. These compounds have potential application in agriculture and medicine. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cancer gene signatures in risk stratification: use in personalized medicine

Cancer is a complex disease which arises due to a series of genetic changes related to cell division and growth control. Cancer remains the second leading cause of death in humans next to heart diseases. As a testimony to our progress in understanding the biology of cancer and developments in cancer diagnosis and treatment methods, the overall median survival time of all cancers has increased six fold one year to six years during the last four decades. However, while the median survival time has increased dramatically for some cancers like breast and colon, there has been only little change for other cancers like pancreas and brain. Further, not all patients having a single type of tumour respond to the standard treatment. The differential response is due to genetic heterogeneity which exists not only between tumours, which is called intertumour heterogeneity, but also within individual tumours, which is called intratumoural heterogeneity. Thus it becomes essential to personalize the cancer treatment based on a specific genetic change in a given tumour. It is also possible to stratify cancer patients into low- and high-risk groups based on expression changes or alterations in a group of genes gene signatures and choose a more suitable mode of therapy. It is now possible that each tumour can be analysed using various high-throughput methods like gene expression profiling and next-generation sequencing to identify its unique fingerprint based on which a personalized or tailor-made therapy can be developed. Here, we review the important progress made in the recent years towards personalizing cancer treatment with the use of gene signatures.