oa FOREWORD

Welcome to the edition of the 8th Volume, number 1 of the Journal of Current Enzyme Inhibition. This issue includes four interesting reviews. Two of them are focused on natural products and on their role in cancer and cytotoxicity, one deals with a web based program to understand the essential structural features for a specific biological activity and the fourth presents iminoalditols targeting Carbohydrate processing enzymes. Bei et al., present an update on the effects of Anthocyans on the expression and function of enzymes involved in cancer development and progression. The authors discuss the preventive and/or therapeutic potential of anthocyans against human cancers. Anthocyans belong to a widespread group of plant constituents, displaying a variety of pharmacological properties, ability to scavenge reactive oxygen species, to affect the transcriptional activity of NF-κ B and to influence the functions of enzymes involved in DNA damage and in cancer-related signaling pathways. These effects rely on the inhibition of signaling by tyrosine kinase growth factor receptors, on the impairment of cAMP phosphodiesterase, proteasome chymotrypsin-like, ornithine decarboxylase and glyoxalase I activity. Since these compounds exhibit the ability to bind and inhibit a number of signaling kinases, Anthocyans are regarded as multi-target kinase inhibitors.....