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Investigation of Vietnamese plants for potential anticancer agents

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Abstract

Higher plants continue to afford humankind with many new drugs, for a variety of disease types. In this review, recent phytochemical and biological progress is presented for part of a collaborative multi-institutional project directed towards the discovery of new antitumor agents. The specific focus is on bioactive natural products isolated and characterized structurally from tropical plants collected in Vietnam. The plant collection, identification, and processing steps are described, and the natural products isolated from these species are summarized with their biological activities.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by Grant P01 CA125066 (awarded to A. D. K.) from the National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, MD. Additional support was awarded to C. B. N. and L. B. P. from NIH grant T32 GM008512, as part of the Chemistry–Biology Interface Program (CBIP), and to P. C. S. and L. B. P. from the Raymond W. Doskotch Fellowship in Natural Products Chemistry from the College of Pharmacy, The Ohio State University, as well as a pre-doctoral fellowship awarded to C. B. N. from the American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education (AFPE). All plants were collected under the terms of agreement between the University of Illinois at Chicago and the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources of the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, Hanoi, Vietnam. Particular thanks are due to the Directors of Hoanglien National Park, Hon Ba Forest Reserve, Kego Nature Reserve Park, and Nui Chua National Park for granting permission to collect the plants specimens, and to the Director of IEBR for overseeing the field operation in the plant collections.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Pharmacy, The Ohio State University, 500 West 12th Avenue, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    Lynette Bueno Pérez, Patrick C. Still, C. Benjamin Naman, Yulin Ren, Li Pan, Hee-Byung Chai, Esperanza J. Carcache de Blanco & A. Douglas Kinghorn

  2. Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, 18 Hoang Quoc Viet, Cau Giay, Hanoi, Vietnam

    Tran Ngoc Ninh & Bui Van Thanh

  3. College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago, 833 South Wood Street, Chicago, IL, 60612, USA

    Steven M. Swanson & Djaja D. Soejarto

  4. Department of Botany, Field Museum, 1400 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL, 60605, USA

    Djaja D. Soejarto

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  1. Lynette Bueno Pérez
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  2. Patrick C. Still
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  3. C. Benjamin Naman
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  4. Yulin Ren
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  5. Li Pan
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  6. Hee-Byung Chai
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  7. Esperanza J. Carcache de Blanco
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  8. Tran Ngoc Ninh
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  9. Bui Van Thanh
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  10. Steven M. Swanson
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  11. Djaja D. Soejarto
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  12. A. Douglas Kinghorn
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Correspondence to A. Douglas Kinghorn.

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Bueno Pérez, L., Still, P.C., Naman, C.B. et al. Investigation of Vietnamese plants for potential anticancer agents. Phytochem Rev 13, 727–739 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11101-014-9335-7

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