Antitumor Potential and other Emerging Medicinal Properties of Natural Compounds

Part I. Lectins: From Biological Recognition Molecules to Variable Medicinal Applications

1. Lectins: Personal Comments of Nathan Sharon Taken from his Memoirs (Translation from Hebrew)
Jeremiah Silbert

2. The History of Lectinology
Hans-Joachim Gabius

3. Animal and Human Lectins
Hans-Joachim Gabius

4. Lectins of Marine Origin and Their Clinical Applications
Yasuharu Watanabe, Takako Naganuma, Tomohisa Ogawa, Koji Muramoto

5. Medicinal Applications of Plant Lectins
Clara Shui Fern Bah, Evandro Fei Fang, Tzi Bun Ng

Part II. Structural and Functional Insights into Medicinal Ribonucleases

6. Plant Nucleases from Nuclease I Family: Their Properties and Antitumor Potential
Tomas Podzimek

7. Bovine Seminal Ribonuclease and Its Special Features: When Two is Better Than One
Delia Picone, Antonello Merlino, Roberta Spadaccini

Part III. The Perspectives for Ribosome Inactivating Proteins: Unveiling the Working Mechanisms and Potential Medicinal Benefits

8. The Discovery of MAP30 and Elucidation of its Medicinal Activities
Sylvia Lee-Huang, Philip Lin Huang, Paul Lee Huang

9. Ribosome Inactivating Proteins from Plants: Biological Properties and their Use in Experimental Therapy
Lucía Citores, Rosario Iglesias, José Miguel Ferreras

10. Current Status and Biomedical Applications of Ribosome-Inactivating Proteins
Riccardo Vago, Rodolfo Ippoliti, Maria Serena Fabbrini

Part IV. The Research History of Protease Inhibitors and Their Health Implications

11. The Health Benefits of the Bowman-Birk Inhibitor

Ann R. Kennedy

12. Peptidic Inhibitors of Serine Proteinases of Plant Origin
Krzysztof Rolka, Adam Lesner, Anna Łęgowska, Magdalena Wysocka

13. Anti-Tumor Effect of Synthetic Serine Protease Inhibitor
Kenei Furukawa, Tadashi Uwagawa, Katsuhiko Yanaga

14. A Landscape of the Health Benefits of Different Natural Protease Inhibitors
Ho Him Leung, Evandro Fei Fang, Tzi Bun Ng

Part V. Plethora of Health Benefits from Small Molecules: From Bench-Top to Clinical Settings

15. Autophagy Upregulation as a Therapeutic Strategy for Neurodegenerative Diseases

Mariana Pavel, David C. Rubinsztein

16. Rapamycin: Current and Future Uses
Morten Scheibye-Knudsen

17. Eating, Drinking, Smoking and Cancer Prevention: A Focus on Acetaldehyde
Roshanna Rajendram, Rajkumar Rajendram, Victor R Preedy

18. The Use of Edible Mushroom Water Soluble Polysaccharides in the Treatment and Prevention of Chronic Diseases: A Mechanistic Approach
Betty Schwartz, Yitzhak Hadar, Daniel Sliva

19. Essential Oil Constituents: Biodiversity and Their Applicability for Cancer Therapy

Daniel P. Bezerra, Emmanoel V. Costa, Paulo Cesar L. Nogueira

Part VI. Medicinal Compounds from the Garden: A Bird’s Eye View of One Mushroom, One Fruit, One Insect, and Others

20. Recent Research on Pharmacological Activities of the Medicinal Fungus Cordyceps sinensis

Tzi Bun Ng, Jack Ho Wong, Evandro Fei Fang

21. The Bitter Fruit with Sweet Health Benefits: A Comprehensive Synopsis of Recent Research Progress on Medicinal Properties of Momordica Charantia

Evandro Fei Fang, Tzi Bun Ng

22. Bioactive Constituents of the Silk Worm Bombyx mori

Lixin Xia, Tzi Bun Ng, Evandro Fei Fang, Jack Ho Wong

23. Proteins with Anticancer and Antimicrobial Activities from Mammals, Submammalian Vertebrates and Invertebrates
Tzi Bun Ng, Evandro Fei Fang, Jack Ho Wong

24. Defense Proteins with Antiproliferative and Antimicrobial Activities from Fungi and Bacteria
Jack Ho Wong, Tzi Bun Ng, Evandro Fei Fang, He-Xiang Wang

Part VII. Modernizing Investigations of Traditional Chinese Medicine at the Molecular Level

25. The Role of the GP-TCM Research Association to Modernization and Globalization of Traditional Chinese Medicine
Rudolf Bauer, De-an Guo, Peter Hylands, Tai-Ping Fan, Qihe Xu

26. High-Throughput Screening in Traditional Chinese Medicine-Based Drug Discovery
Catherine C.K. Wong, Yung Hou Wong

Part VIII. Questions and Future Perspectives

27. Achievements, Questions Arising and Future Outlook on the Path to Discover New Medicinal Compounds
Evandro Fei Fang, Tzi Bun Ng

Nyckelord: Biomedicine, Cancer Research, Apoptosis, Biomedicine general, Molecular Medicine, Pharmacology/Toxicology, Biomedicine general