Preface

Chapter 9 **Discovery of Selective and Potent Inhibitors of**

Jie Yanling, Liang Xin and Li Zhiyuan

Chapter 11 **Air, Water and Soil: Resources for Drug Discovery 309**

Iglesias and Graciela Lizeth Perez-Gonzalez

Chapter 12 **Transition State Analogues of Enzymatic Reaction as**

Chapter 13 **Suppression of Pro-Inflammatory Cytokines via Targeting of**

Chapter 14 **Coupled Enzyme Activity and Thermal Shift Screening of the**

**brucei Choline Kinase; A Genetically Validated**

Louise L. Major, Helen Denton and Terry K. Smith

Chapter 15 **Colon Cancer: Current Treatments and Preclinical Models for**

Chapter 16 **Applications of Snake Venom Proline-Rich Oligopeptides (Bj-**

**the Discovery and Development of New Therapies 433** Samuel Constant, Song Huang, Ludovic Wiszniewski and

**PROs) in Disease Conditions Resulting from Deficient Nitric**

**Maybridge Rule of 3 Fragment Library Against Trypanosoma**

Karolina Gluza and Pawel Kafarski

**STAT-Responsive Genes 373**

Luis Jesús Villarreal-Gómez, Irma Esthela Soria-Mercado, Ana Leticia

**Palmitoylation 251** Sonia Lobo Planey

**VI** Contents

Chapter 10 **The Antibacterial Drug Discovery 289**

**Potential Drugs 325**

Charles J. Malemud

**Drug Target 413**

Christophe Mas

**Discovery 475** Gabriel Magoma

**Oxide Production 459**

Claudiana Lameu and Henning Ulrich

Chapter 17 **Introduction to Biochemical Pharmacology and Drug**

Natural products are a constant source of potentially active compounds for the treatment of various disorders. The Middle East and tropical regions are believed to have the richest sup‐ plies of natural products in the world. Plant derived secondary metabolites have been used by humans to treat acute infections, health disorders and chronic illness for tens of thou‐ sands of years. Only during the last 100 years have natural products been largely replaced by synthetic drugs. Estimates of 200 000 natural products in plant species have been revised upward as mass spectrometry techniques have developed. For developing countries the identification and use of endogenous medicinal plants as cures against cancers has become attractive. Books on drug discovery will play vital role in the new era of disease treatment using natural products.

This book consists of 17 chapters and covers diverse topics from isolation, identification and validation and hit the drug cell interaction.

I would like to thank all contributors for their excellent effort regarding the drug discovery issues and I believe this book will provide significant knowledge to students and scientists.

> **Hany El-Shemy** Faculty of Agriculture Cairo University, Egypt

**Chapter 1**

**Fruit/Vegetable-Drug Interactions: Effects on**

Lourdes Rodríguez-Fragoso and

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Jorge Reyes-Esparza

**1. Introduction**

vegetables.

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/48283

**Drug Metabolizing Enzymes and Drug Transporters**

Dietary habits are an important modifiable environmental factor influencing human health and disease. Epidemiologic evidence suggests that regular consumption of fruits and vege‐ tables may reduce risk of some diseases, including cancer [1]. These properties have been attributed to foods that are rich sources of numerous bioactive compounds such as phyto‐ chemicals [2]. Modifying the intake of specific foods and/or their bioactive components seems to be a prudent, noninvasive, and cost-effective strategy for preventing some diseases in people who appear to be "healthy" [3]. As will be discussed in this chapter, potential problems occur when patients taking medicines regularly also consume certain fruits or

Thousands of drugs are commercially available and a great percentage of the population takes at least one pharmacologically active agent on a regular basis. Given this magnitude of use and variability in individual nutritional status, dietary habits and food composition, there is a high potential for drug-nutrient interactions. However, there is a relatively short list of documented fruit-drug or vegetable-drug interactions, necessitating further and ex‐ tensive clinical evaluation. Healthcare providers, such as physicians, pharmacists, nurses, and dietitians, have to be aware of important food-drug interactions in order to optimize the therapeutic efficacy of prescribed and over-the-counter drugs. Here, we review some of the most widely consumed fruits and vegetables to inform healthcare providers of possible nu‐

There are numerous patients who encounter increased risks of adverse events associated with drug-nutrient interactions. These include elderly patients, patients with cancer and/ or

and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2013 Rodríguez-Fragoso and Reyes-Esparza; licensee InTech. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is

© 2013 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution,

trient-drug interactions and their potential clinical significance.

properly cited.
