Geniposide exerts protective effects against hepatic steatosis in rats fed with a high fat diet; the underlying mechanism may be associated with its antioxidant actions or regulation of adipocytokine release and expression of PPARα.

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Keywords: DNA photorepair / Electron transfer / Pyrimidine dimer / Tryptophan / Solvent effectsTryptophan-thymine dimer model compounds used to mimic the repair reaction of DNA photolyase have been synthesized. The photosensitized cleavage of the dimer by the covalently linked tryptophan is strongly solvent-dependent with the reaction rates increasing in increasingly polar solvents, for example, the quantum yield Φ = 0.004 in THF/hexane (5:95) and 0.093 in water. The fluorescence of the tryptophan residue is quenched by the dimer moiety by electron transfer from the excited tryptophan to the dimer. Fluorescence-quenching studies indicated that the electron transfer was efficient in polar solvents. The splitting efficiency of the dimer radical anion within the tryptophan ·+ -dimer ·-species is also remarkably solvent-dependent and increases with the

Telomere and telomerase play important roles in abnormal cell proliferation, metastasis, stem cell maintenance, and immortalization in various cancers. Therefore, designing of drugs targeting telomerase and telomere is of great significance. Over the past two decades, considerable knowledge regarding telomere and telomerase has been accumulated, which provides theoretical support for the design of therapeutic strategies such as telomere elongation. Therefore, the development of telomere‐based therapies such as nucleoside analogs, non‐nucleoside small molecules, antisense technology, ribozymes, and dominant negative human telomerase reverse transcriptase are being prioritized for eradicating a majority of tumors. While the benefits of telomere‐based therapies are obvious, there is a need to address the limitations of various therapeutic strategies to improve the possibility of clinical applications. In this study, current knowledge of telomere and telomerase is discussed, and therapeutic strategies based on recent research are reviewed.

Glycyrrhizin (GA) analogs in the form of 3-glucuronides and 18-epimers were synthesized and their anticancer activities were evaluated. Alkaline isomerization of monoglucuronides is reported. In vitro and in vivo studies showed that glycyrrhetinic acid monoglucuronides (GAMGs) displayed higher anticancer activities than those of bisglucuronide GA analogs, while anticancer activity of the 18α-epimer was superior to that of the 18β-epimer. 18α-GAMG was firstly nicely bound to epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) via six hydrogen bonds and one charge interaction, and the docking calculation proved the correlation between anticancer activities and EGFR inhibitory activities. Highly active 18α-GAMG is thus of interest for the further studies as a potential anticancer agent.