Effects of Naturally Occurring Compounds on Humancancer Cells: Anticancer Activity of Resveratrol, Piceatannol,gallic Acid & Their Analogs

The use of anticancer agents as part of the treatmentstrategy has greatly improved the overall prognosisof cancer. In clinical practice, chemotherapy forcancer often requires a combination of drugs andtherefore understanding the clinical pharmacology ofanticancer drugs is imperative for achieving optimalbenefits from use of these agents. The aim of this thesis was to investigate thebiochemical and cytotoxic effects of naturallyoccurring compounds, such as resveratrol, resveratrolanalogs, piceatannol, gallic acid, Avemar, and heavywater alone and/or in combination with clinicallyestablished anticancer agents such asarabinofuranosylcytosine and gemcitabine. The effects of these drugs were examined in human andmurine leukemia cells as well as in human pancreatictumor cell lines. We hope that our experiments may help to elucidatethe biochemical pathways involved in the drugcombinations applied and provide the basis forfurther in vivo studies in order to develop newstrategies for the treatment of human malignancies.