Screening of natural and commodity chemicals for hormonal activity

Several new classes of natural [1, 2] and synthetic [3, 4] estrogens and antiestrogens were recently screened using genetically engineered reporter cell lines developed by the Molecular Endocrinology Programme to yield a number of prospective leads for safe HRT, which are presently studied more extensively. In line with this activity, a service can be provided to those in the academia and the pharmaceutical industry that are in search of pharmaceutically useful molecules. It is anticipated that this service will also be of assistance to those studying endocrine disruptors and their impact on endocrine-cancer risk. Endocrine disruptors are environmental or dietary substances capable of causing developmental, behavioural and reproductive disorders in humans and wild life by modifying the function of the endocrine system. Chemicals and mixtures thereof need to be screened for hormonal activity using reliable cell-based assays before tested in vivo for hazardous effects at the level of the organism. T he disruptive potential of a compound screened positive in vitro can be tested in the animal facility of IBRB (this service is supervised by the Molecular Endocrinology Programme of IBRB) .

[1] Fokialakis N, Lambrinidis G, Mitsiou DJ, Aligiannis N, Mitakou S, Skaltsounis AL, Pratsinis H, Mikros E, Alexis MN. A new class of phytoestrogens; evaluation of the estrogenic activity of deoxybenzoins. Chem Biol. 2004 Mar;11(3):397-406.

[2] Halabalaki M, Alexis X, Aligiannis N, Pratsinis H, Florentin I, Mitaku S, Skaltsounis AL, Alexis MN. Estrogenic activity of isoflavonoids from Onobrychis ebenoides . Under revision.  

[3] Patent application No 20050100282/08-06-2005: ' Tissue specific antiestrogens selective for estrogen receptor alpha' - Alexis MN, Papahatjis D, Assimomitis N, Siriani D, Sekeris CE.

[4] Patent application No 20050100284/08-06-2005: ' New substituted stilbenoid derivatives with meuroprotective activity' - Micha-Screttas M, Steele BR, Villalonga-Barber C, Alexis MN.