Natural and Synthetic Alkaloids for Cancer Therapy
Griffin, Carly
Cancer is a disease of uncontrolled cell growth and proliferation that is predicted to directly affect 1 in 3 Canadians. Standard chemotherapy that targets DNA or its replicative machinery effectively eradicates cancer cells, but also causes non-specific toxicity to healthy cells. Pancratistatin, a natural alkaloid isolated from Hymenocallis littoralis, was found to selectively induce apoptosis (programmed cell death) in many types of human ca...