Mehmet Varol

Mugla Üniversitesi · Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics

Aims: In this study, discovery of novel anticancer agents acting by more than one mechanism was aimed. Method: For this purpose, eleven previously synthesized simple-stilbene, chalcone, flavanone derivatives and 31 novel stilbene-fused chalcones and stilbene-fused flavanones were tested for their aromatase inhibition, antiangiogenic and anti-pro...

Vulpinic and gyrophoric acids are known as ultraviolet filters for natural lichen populations because of their chemical structures. However, to the best of our knowledge, there has been no reference to their cosmetic potential for skin protection against ultraviolet B (UVB)-induced damage and, consequently, we propose to highlight their photoprotec...

A phytochemical analysis of the dichloromethane extract from the flowers of a subspecies of Tanacetum vulgare growing in Sicily was carried out. Five known sesquiterpene lactones with the eudesmane skeleton have been isolated and the cytotoxic activity of these compounds was tested in vitro on A549 (human lung carcinoma epithelial-like) and V79379A...

Engineering polymer-based nano-systems have attracted many researchers owing to their unique qualities like shape, size, porosity, mechanical strength, biocompatibility, and biodegradability. Both natural and synthetic polymers can be tuned to get desired surface chemistry and functionalization to improve the efficacy of cancer therapy by promoting...

In parallel to the continuous rise of new cancer cases all over the world, the interest of scientific community in natural anticancer agents has steadily been increased. In the past decades, numerous phytochemicals have been shown to possess a strong anticancer potential in preclinical conditions. One of such interesting compounds, derived from dif...

Quercetin is one of the most powerful bioactive dietary flavonoids. The in vivo biological study of quercetin is extremely difficult due to its very low solubility. However, diorganotin complexes of quercetin are more useful when contrasted with quercetin due to increased solubility. In the present study, quercetin, substituted biguanide synthesize...

Phloretin is a natural dihydrochalcone found in many fruits and vegetables, especially in apple tree leaves and the Manchurian apricots, exhibiting several therapeutic properties, such as antioxidant, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, and antitumor activities. In this review article, the diverse aspects of the anticancer potential of phloretin are a...

Cancer is a highly lethal disease, and its incidence has rapidly increased worldwide over the past few decades. Although chemotherapeutics and surgery are widely used in clinical settings, they are often insufficient to provide the cure for cancer patients. Hence, more effective treatment options are highly needed. Although licorice has been used a...

ROS include hydroxyl radicals (HO.), superoxide (O2..), and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). ROS are typically produced under physiological conditions and play crucial roles in living organisms. It is known that ROS, which are created spontaneously by cells through aerobic metabolism in mitochondria, can have either a beneficial or detrimental influence o...

It is well known that, historically, plants have been an important resource of anticancer agents, providing several clinically approved drugs. Numerous preclinical studies have shown a strong anticancer potential of structurally different phytochemicals, including polyphenolic constituents of plants, flavonoids. In this review article, suppressing...

Cancer is emerging as the second leading cause of death worldwide after cardiovascular disease; it is defined as the disruption of the normal functioning of intracellular signaling mechanisms and the formation of uncontrolled growing cell populations due to genetic and environmental factors (Aggarwal et al., 2019; Dancey et al., 2012; Rumgay et al....

Objective: Microbial diseases are snowballing at an alarming proportion. Therefore, the intent of this study was to inspect the antimicrobial action of ferrocenyl-substituted pyrazole against various human pathogenic Gram-positive, Gram-negative, and fungal microbial strains. Pyrazoles have been recognized for over a century as a significant and bi...

Nanotechnology has encouraged new and amended materials (metal nanoparticles) for therapeutic applications with specific prominence in healthcare. Metal nanoparticles (NPs) are versatile nanoscale entities, widely used to diagnose and treat cancer. Evidence suggested that metal NPs can modulate the expression of various intracellular and extra-cell...

Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), also known as epigallocatechin-3-gallate, is an ester of epigallocatechin and gallic acid. EGCG, abundantly found in tea, is a polyphenolic flavonoid that has the potential to affect human health and disease. EGCG interacts with various recognized cellular targets and inhibits cancer cell proliferation by inducing a...

As a landmark, scientific investigation in cytokine signaling and interferon-related anti-viral activity, signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) family of proteins was first discovered in the 1990s. Today, we know that the STAT family consists of several transcription factors which regulate various molecular and cellular processes,...

Bee venom therapy is known as a traditional approach to curing many medical conditions such as arthritis, pain and rheumatism. Bee venom also provides promising potential for treating many cancers such as breast, lung, ovary, stomach, kidney, prostate, cervical, colon and esophageal cancers, osteosarcoma, leukemia, melanoma and hepatocellular carci...

Abstract: The overwhelming global burden of cancer has posed numerous challenges and opportunities for developing anti-cancer therapies. Phytochemicals have emerged as promising synergistic compounds with potential anti-cancer effects to supplement chemo- and immune-therapeutic regimens. Anti cancer synergistic effects have been investigated in the...

A novel Schiff base-derived organotin (IV) complexes have been synthesized by reacting 1, 3-bis [(1E)-1-(2-hydroxyphenyl) ethylidene]thiourea (which in turn obtained by condensing thiourea with ortho-hydroxyacetophenone) with diorganotin chlorides in methanol under stirring conditions. The synthesized compounds have been characterized by elemental...

In the last few decades, targeting cancer by the use of dietary phytochemicals has gained enormous attention. The plausible reason and believe or mind set behind this fact is attributed to either lesser or no side effects of natural compounds as compared to the modern chemotherapeutics, or due to their conventional use as dietary components by mank...

Notch signaling, an evolutionarily conserved signaling cascade, is critical for normal biological processes of cell differentiation, development, and homeostasis. Deregulation of the Notch signaling pathway has been associated with tumor progression. Thus, Notch presents as an interesting target for a variety of cancer subtypes and its signaling me...

Oncogenic transformation has been the major cause of global mortality since decades. Despite established therapeutic regimes, majority of cancer patients either present with tumor relapse, refractory disease or therapeutic resistance. Numerous drug candidates are being explored to tap the key reason being poor tumor remission rates, from novel chem...

Cancer is an anomalous growth and differentiation of cells known to be governed by oncogenic factors. Plant-based natural metabolites have been well recognized to possess chemopreventive properties. Deguelin, a natural rotenoid, is among the class of bioactive phytoconstituents from a diverse range of plants with potential antineoplastic effects in...

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) have long been considered as one of the major regulatory factors for the intracellular and intercellular signaling cascades. The sensitive redox balance that is controlled through an improved antioxidant system along with the enzymatic and non-enzymatic ROS production pathways sustains physiological functions in the he...

Drug development and discovery studies have a great importance because of the presence of many deadly diseases without convenient medical cures available. Thus, substantial research efforts and financial supports have been consumed to have successful drugs and treatment strategies. Metals and metal‐based materials have an essential significance in...

Hesperidin belongs to flavanones class of flavonoids and is known to possess broad-spectrum applicability to prevent dreadful diseases such as cardiovascular disease, neurodegeneration, and cancer. The reported anticancer effects of hesperidin have been found to be associated with its anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. Hesperidin intera...

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) play a pivotal role in biological processes and continuous ROS production in normal cells is controlled by the appropriate regulation between the silver lining of low and high ROS concentration mediated effects. Interestingly, ROS also dynamically influences the tumor microenvironment and is known to initiate cancer an...

Lichens that are exclusive symbiotic organisms composed of fungus and alga, are considered as a wealthy source of biologically and pharmacologically active small-molecules thanks to the tight metabolic relationship between symbiotic partners. We herein report cytotoxic, anti-angiogenic and apoptotic profile of a lichen derived small-molecule named...

Photodynamic therapy is a promising, minimally invasive, and clinically approved treatment strategy that destroys the cell components by oxidizing the biological molecules such as nucleic acids, carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids, and leads apoptosis in the cells of the target tissue through the generation of singlet oxygen and reactive oxygen spe...

Adhesion is defined as a fundamental ability of the adherent cells isolated from the multicellular organisms to attach to an extracellular matrix or another cell, and it takes a key role in a wide variety of the important molecular mechanisms such as cell communication, regulation, differentiation, migration, wound healing, immune response, inflamm...

Design and discovery of novel sunscreens are of great importance to protect the human skin toward ultraviolet-induced damages because of the incidence of skin cancers that is believed to have increased depending on the depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer. Although ultraviolet A can penetrate deep into the human skin and provoke harmful influ...

Natural products have been used for centuries as the most potent remedies to cure many diseases including cancer diseases. Angiogenesis is defined as the formation of new capillaries from existing vessels and plays a key role in the tumorigenesis process. Barbatolic acid is a little known lichen-derived small-molecule. In the present study, barbato...

Pulvinic acid derivatives are considered as worthy to be evaluated as skin protection factor toward ultraviolet-induced damages because of their colors and locations in lichens. Due to the lack of literature about photo-protective features of pulvinic acid derivatives, their cosmetic potentials for skin protection were evaluated in silico, for the...

Drug design and discovery studies are important because of the prevalence of diseases without available medical cures. New anticancer agents are particularly urgent because of the high mortality rate associated with cancer. A series of mononuclear gold (III) and platinum (II) complexes based on boronated phenylalanine (BPA) were designed and synthe...

Background: Drug design and discovery studies still remain of great importance in the search for more convenient chemotherapeutic to avoid the drug resistance, systemic toxicity or the longterm side effects. Objective: A series of mononuclear gold (III) and platinum (II) complexes based on 4-dihydroxyboryl- DL-phenylalanine (BPA) was designed an...

Drug design and discovery processes are very important for human health because of the prevalence of many diseases for which there is no known medical cure. Much scientific effort backed by the financial support of governments has gone into discovering and designing novel functional molecules. It is widely accepted that natural products are the lea...

Development of the effective treatment strategies has a great importance to keep human body healthy due to prevalence of many diseases without convenient medical cures available. A great scientific effort and government financial supports, therefore, have been consumed to discover and design novel functional molecules and treatment modalities. On t...

It is known that there are, nowadays, more than 200 different types of cancer although the processes of cancer formations are similar to each other. Additionally, published studies showed that a cancerous tissue could exhibit morphologically and functionally heterogeneous structure, and compose of various cancer cells with different mutation, epige...

Natural Small-Molecules Obtained From Lichens as a Novel Source of Anti-Angiogenic Agents Mehmet Varol1,2* 1Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Yunusemre Campus, Anadolu University, Eskisehir, Turkey 2Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Kotekli Campus, Mugla Sitki Kocman University, Mugla, Turkey Corresponding Author : Mehmet Varol...

An Alternative Treatment Modality of Diseases Using Photodynamic Therapy with a Wide Range Biological Targeting Possibility Mehmet VAROL 1,2,* Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Yunusemre Campus, Anadolu University, Eskisehir TR26470, Turkey Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Kotekli Campus, Mugla Sitki Kocman University, Mugla T...

36th FEBS Congress, Biochemistry for Tomorrow's Medicine, Lingotto Conference Center, Torino, Italy, June 25-30, 2011

Usnic acid and atranorin are known as both sunscreen substances in natural lichen population and cytotoxic substances on human cell lines. Both substances were isolated from the acetone extracts of Cladonia foliacea and Pseudevernia furfuracea, respectively. Their photoprotective activities on irradiated human keratinocyte (HaCaT) cells and destruc...