BIOLOGICAL SCREENING TO ASSESS NEW POTENTIAL ANTI-CANCER DRUGS

Development of targeted synthesis of molecules able to act selectively in tumor cells, is currently a hard challenge in the discovery of new less toxic chemotherapeutics agents. The recent discovery of some new cell mecchanisms described at molecular level, involved in the cancer diseases, coupled with powerful computational methodologies, opens the way to new therapeutic perpesctives. A new virtual screening approach, recently proposed and tested by us, allowed to identify the lead compound pyrrolo[3,2-b]quinoline core structure as promising candidate for IKK inhibition. The role of IKK was demonstrated essentially in the NF-kB regulation. This transcriptional factor was shown to have critical role in cancer development and progression.