Abstract
The International Cooperative Biodiversity Groups (ICBG) Program based at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) is a program aimed to address the interdependent issues of inventory and conservation of biodiversity, drug discovery and sustained economic growth in both developing and developed countries. It is an interdisciplinary program involving the extensive synergies and collaborative efforts of botanists, chemists and biologists in the countries of Vietnam, Laos and the USA. The UIC-ICBG drug discovery efforts over the past 18 years have resulted in the collection of a cumulative total of more than 5500 plant samples (representing more than 2000 species), that were evaluated for their potential biological effects against cancer, HIV, bird flu, tuberculosis and malaria. The bioassay-guided fractionation and separation of the bioactive plant leads resulted in the isolation of approximately 300 compounds of varying degrees of structural complexity and/or biological activity. The present paper summarizes the significant drug discovery achievements made by the UIC-ICBG team of multidisciplinary collaborators in the project over the period of 1998–2012 and the projects carried on in the subsequent years by involving the researchers in Hong Kong.
Highlights
Natural products have been a rich source for the discovery of therapeutic agents throughout the ages [1]
Natural products have long been the main resource in the search for potential lead compounds for the development of a large variety of therapeutic drugs including anticancer and antiviral agents [1]
The disease targets of this drug discovery program mainly focused on the search for therapeutic agents that targeted cancer, HIV, TB and malaria
Summary
Natural products have been a rich source for the discovery of therapeutic agents throughout the ages [1]. The objectives of this ICBG program included: (i) integrated effort of biodiversity inventory and conservation at Cuc Phuong National Park (CPNP) in Vietnam, that will include the preparation of a Manual for taxonomic identification of the flowering plants in the park, the establishment of a Threatened Plants Rescue Center, the implementation of a conservation education program, and the transfer of GIS-based biodiversity assessment technology to Vietnam; (ii) integrated study of medicinal plants of Laos through the strengthening of the Lao Medicinal Plant Database and through a comparative ethnobotany mapping project in selected ecogeographic zones in Laos; (iii) collection of plant samples at CPNP and in Laos as an integral part of the UIC-ICBG drug discovery effort;. The bioactive and/or novel isolates obtained are described below
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