ABSTRACT
A mega-diverse country like Mexico, rich in organisms not yet explored, offers excellent prospects for the discovery of new bioactive compounds. Potentially, these organisms are sources of novel chemical entities representing appropriate templates for the development of new drugs and pesticide agents. Therefore, a few years ago, we initiated a program to discover new calmodulin (CaM) inhibitors from natural sources considering that agents that inhibit its regulatory properties might play an important role in the development of new chemotherapeutic agents for treating several diseases. For example, recent ˜ndings have shown that most cancers are associated with elevated levels of calcium-bound CaM (Ca2+-CaM) and that CaM antagonists inhibit tumor cell
13.1 Introduction .................................................................................................. 451 13.2 Calmodulin: An Overview ........................................................................... 452 13.3 Methods for Detecting Calmodulin Inhibitors ............................................. 454 13.4 Natural Calmodulin Inhibitors ..................................................................... 455 13.5 Selected CaM Inhibitors from Mexican Biodiversity ................................... 455
13.5.1 Prenylated Xanthones from Emericella 25379 ................................. 455 13.5.2 Alkaloids from Malbranchea aurantiaca ........................................ 478 13.5.3 Benzyl Benzoates from Brickellia veronicifolia .............................. 483
13.6 Conclusions ................................................................................................... 489 Acknowledgments .................................................................................................. 489 References .............................................................................................................. 489
invasion in vitro and metastasis in vivo (Shim et al. 2007). Then, CaM is an important target for the development of new anticancer agents.
