This associate program will provide evaluation of plant extracts and isolated pure compounds for antiviral, anti-cancer, antibacterial, and antifungal activities, CNS and cardiovascular activities, Cystic Fibrosis, Opportunistic infections, Anti-tuberculosis and biochemical and secondary enzyme based evaluation. The AP will also undertake studies and development of Phytomedicines as well as training in host countries. The antiviral assays will be conducted at Southern Research Institute (SRI), Alabama; anti-tumor evaluation at the University of Utah; CNS activity assays will be based at University of Miami and the Cystic Fibrosis screen at Florida State University. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease will screen samples for Opportunistic infections while MDS Panlabs will conduct biochemical and enzyme induced assays. Phytomedicine development will be conducted in ICBG laboratories in source countries. The high-volume antiviral pre-screen available at SRI will accommodate the evaluation of approximately 100-200 submitted test materials (natural product extracts/chemical compounds) per year for five years. The anti- tumor test system will include an activity screen using Chinese hamster ovary cell lines as secondary assay for extracts and active fractions. The assays will include a line that is sensitive to killing by agents that produce DNA double strand breaks of topoisomerase II inhibitors and tubulin inhibitors, another line that is sensitive to killing by some alkylating agents, and the third line will be from those that are sensitive to killing by some alkylating agents, and the third line will be from those that are sensitive to bulky DNA adducts such as melphalan or mitomycin C. Enhanced toxicity of an unknown drug towards any of these lines, therefore, will not only suggest a DNA directed mechanism, but suggest the mechanism by which that DNA damage is produced. The third assay under this Associate Program will be the neurochemical and radio- receptor assays which is suitable for high throughput screening for drug discovery and rapid biological profiling of natural products. Research developments in basic preclinical and clinical Neuroscience have catalyzed unprecedented efforts towards the discovery and development of novel CNS drugs which should prove effective for the treatment of neuropsychiatric diseases. The Cystic Fibrosis assays will screen plant material for compounds active in increasing the function of chimeric cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) reporter gene in yeast. The MDS Panlab will conduct various biochemical and enzyme mechanism based assays aimed at identifying isolated compounds from plant extracts that were found active in the automated receptor-binding assay. The International Centre for Ethnomedicine and Drug Development (Inter-CEED) will coordinate the development and standardization of Phytomedicines and Nigeria in collaboration with select pharmaceutical companies.
