Eye diseases characterized by excessive angiogenesis such as wet age-related macular degeneration, proliferative diabetic retinopathy, and retinopathy of prematurity are major causes of blindness. Cremastranone is an anti-angiogenic, naturally occurring homoisoflavanone with efficacy in retinal and choroidal neovascularization models and antiproliferative selectivity for endothelial cells over other cell types. We undertook a cell-based structure-activity relationship study to develop more potent cremastranone analogs, with improved antiproliferative selectivity for retinal endothelial cells. Phenylalanyl-incorporated homoisoflavonoids showed improved activity and remarkable selectivity for retinal microvascular endothelial cells. A lead compound inhibited angiogenesis in vitro without inducing apoptosis, and had efficacy in the oxygen-induced retinopathy model in vivo.

Diabetic macular edema (DME) is the main cause of visual impairment in diabetic patients. The management of DME is complex and often various treatment approaches are needed. At the present time, despite the enthusiasm for evaluating several new treatments for DME, including the intravitreal pharmacologic therapies (e.g., corticosteroids and anti-VEGF drugs), laser photocoagulation still remains the current standard in DME. The purpose of this review is to update our knowledge on laser photocoagulation for DME and describe the developments in laser systems. And we will also discuss the new laser techniques and review the latest results including benefits of combined therapy. In this paper, we briefly summarize the major laser therapeutics for the treatment of diabetic macular edema and allude to some future promising laser therapies.

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Breast cancer exhibits high lethality in women because it is frequently detected at an advanced stage and aggressive forms such as triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), which are often characterized by metastasis through colonization of secondary tumors. Thus, developing therapeutic agents that target the metastatic process is crucial to successfully treat aggressive breast cancer. We evaluated SP-8356, an anti-inflammatory synthetic verbenone derivative, with respect to its regulation of breast cancer cell behavior and cancer progression. Treatment of SP-8356 arrested cell cycle and reduced growth in various types of breast cancer cells with mild cytotoxicity. Particularly, SP-8356 significantly reduced the motility and invasiveness of TNBC cells. Assays using an in vivo xenograft mouse model confirmed the cell-specific anti-proliferative and anti-metastatic activity of SP-8356. Functional studies revealed that SP-8356 suppressed serum response element-dependent reporter gene expression and NF-κB-related signaling, resulting in downregulation of many genes related to cancer invasion. We conclude that SP-8356 suppresses breast cancer progression through multimodal functions, including inhibition of NF-κB signaling and growth-related signaling pathways.