TY - JOUR
T1 - An international collaborative program to discover new drugs from tropical biodiversity of Vietnam and Laos
AU - Soejarto, Djaja D.
AU - Pezzuto, John M.
AU - Fong, Harry H.S.
AU - Tan, Ghee Teng
AU - Zhang, Hong Jie
AU - Tamez, Pamela
AU - Aydogmus, Zeynep
AU - Chien, Nguyen Quyet
AU - Franzblau, Scott G.
AU - Gyllenhaal, Charlotte
AU - Regalado, Jacinto C.
AU - Hung, Nguyen Van
AU - Hoang, Vu Dinh
AU - Nguyen, Hiêp Tien
AU - Xuan, Le Thi
AU - Hai, Nong Van
AU - Cuong, Nguyen Manh
AU - Quang Bich, Truong
AU - Loc, Phan Ke
AU - Vu, Bui Minh
AU - Southavong, Boun Hoong
AU - Sydara, Kongmany
AU - Bouamanivong, Somsanith
AU - O'Neill, Melanie J.
AU - Lewis, Jane
AU - Dietzman, Gregg
PY - 2002
Y1 - 2002
N2 - An International Cooperative Biodiversity Group (ICBG) program based at the University of Illinois at Chicago initiated its activities in 1998, with the following specific objectives: (a) inventory and conservation of plants of Cuc Phuong National Park in Vietnam and of medicinal plants of Laos; (b) drug discovery (and development) based on plants of Vietnam and Laos; and (c) economic development of communities participating in the ICBG project both in Vietnam and Laos. Member-institutions and an industrial partner of this ICBG are bound by a Memorandum of Agreement that recognizes property and intellectual property rights, prior informed consent for access to genetic resources and to indigenous knowledge, the sharing of benefits that may arise from the drug discovery effort, and the provision of short-term and long-term benefits to host country institutions and communities. The drug discovery effort is targeted to the search for agents for therapies against malaria (antimalarial assay of plant extracts, using Plasmodium falciparum clones), AIDS (anti-HIV-1 activity using HOG.R5 reporter cell line (through transactivation of the green fluorescent protein/GFP gene), cancer (screening of plant extracts in 6 human tumor cell lines - KB, Col-2, LU-1, LNCaP, HUVEC, hTert-RPE1), tuberculosis (screening of extracts in the microplate Alamar Blue assay against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Ra and H37Rv), all performed at UIC, and CNS-related diseases (with special focus on Alzheimer's disease, pain and rheumatoid arthritis, and asthma), performed at Glaxo Smith Kline (UK). Source plants were selected based on two approaches: biodiversity-based (plants of Cuc Phuong National Park) and ethnobotany-based (medicinal plants of Cuc Phuong National Park in Vietnam and medicinal plants of Laos). At UIC, as of July, 2001, active leads had been identified in the anti-HIV, anticancer, antimalarial, and anti-TB assay, after the screening of more than 800 extracts. At least 25 biologically active compounds have been isolated, 13 of which are new with anti-HIV activity, and 3 also new with antimalarial activity. At GSK of 21 plant samples with a history of use to treat CNS-related diseases tested to date, a number showed activity against one or more of the CNS assay targets used, but no new compounds have been isolated. The results of the drug discovery effort to date indicate that tropical plant diversity of Vietnam and Laos unquestionably harbors biologically active chemical entities, which, through further research, may eventually yield candidates for drug development. Although the substantial monetary benefit of the drug discovery process (royalties) is a long way off, the UIC ICBG program provides direct and real-term benefits to host country institutions and communities.
AB - An International Cooperative Biodiversity Group (ICBG) program based at the University of Illinois at Chicago initiated its activities in 1998, with the following specific objectives: (a) inventory and conservation of plants of Cuc Phuong National Park in Vietnam and of medicinal plants of Laos; (b) drug discovery (and development) based on plants of Vietnam and Laos; and (c) economic development of communities participating in the ICBG project both in Vietnam and Laos. Member-institutions and an industrial partner of this ICBG are bound by a Memorandum of Agreement that recognizes property and intellectual property rights, prior informed consent for access to genetic resources and to indigenous knowledge, the sharing of benefits that may arise from the drug discovery effort, and the provision of short-term and long-term benefits to host country institutions and communities. The drug discovery effort is targeted to the search for agents for therapies against malaria (antimalarial assay of plant extracts, using Plasmodium falciparum clones), AIDS (anti-HIV-1 activity using HOG.R5 reporter cell line (through transactivation of the green fluorescent protein/GFP gene), cancer (screening of plant extracts in 6 human tumor cell lines - KB, Col-2, LU-1, LNCaP, HUVEC, hTert-RPE1), tuberculosis (screening of extracts in the microplate Alamar Blue assay against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Ra and H37Rv), all performed at UIC, and CNS-related diseases (with special focus on Alzheimer's disease, pain and rheumatoid arthritis, and asthma), performed at Glaxo Smith Kline (UK). Source plants were selected based on two approaches: biodiversity-based (plants of Cuc Phuong National Park) and ethnobotany-based (medicinal plants of Cuc Phuong National Park in Vietnam and medicinal plants of Laos). At UIC, as of July, 2001, active leads had been identified in the anti-HIV, anticancer, antimalarial, and anti-TB assay, after the screening of more than 800 extracts. At least 25 biologically active compounds have been isolated, 13 of which are new with anti-HIV activity, and 3 also new with antimalarial activity. At GSK of 21 plant samples with a history of use to treat CNS-related diseases tested to date, a number showed activity against one or more of the CNS assay targets used, but no new compounds have been isolated. The results of the drug discovery effort to date indicate that tropical plant diversity of Vietnam and Laos unquestionably harbors biologically active chemical entities, which, through further research, may eventually yield candidates for drug development. Although the substantial monetary benefit of the drug discovery process (royalties) is a long way off, the UIC ICBG program provides direct and real-term benefits to host country institutions and communities.
KW - AIDS
KW - Biodiversity
KW - Cancer
KW - CNS diseases
KW - Drug discovery
KW - ICBG
KW - Laos
KW - Malaria
KW - Medicinal Plants
KW - Plants
KW - Tuberculosis
KW - Vietnam
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0036117730&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:0036117730
SN - 1226-3907
VL - 8
SP - 1
EP - 15
JO - Natural Product Sciences
JF - Natural Product Sciences
IS - 1
ER -