2-Deoxy-d-Glucose and Its Analogs: From Diagnostic to Therapeutic Agents.

The ability of 2-deoxy-d-glucose (2-DG) to interfere with d-glucose metabolism demonstrates that nutrient and energy deprivation is an efficient tool to suppress cancer cell growth and survival. Acting as a d-glucose mimic, 2-DG inhibits glycolysis due to formation and intracellular accumulation of 2-deoxy-d-glucose-6-phosphate (2-DG6P), inhibiting the function of hexokinase and glucose-6-phosphate isomerase, and inducing cell death. In addition to glycolysis inhibition, other molecular processes are also affected by 2-DG. Attempts to improve 2-DG's drug-like properties, its role as a potential adjuvant for other chemotherapeutics, and novel 2-DG analogs as promising new anticancer agents are discussed in this review.

High-performance liquid chromatographic determination of metoprolol and alpha-hydroxymetoprolol concentrations in human serum, urine, and cerebrospinal fluid.

A sensitive and simplified high-performance liquid chromatographic procedure was developed for the simultaneous quantification of metoprolol and alpha-hydroxymetoprolol in human serum, as well as cerebrospinal fluid and urine. Following protein precipitation with trichloroacetic acid, the sample was alkalinized with 1 M NaOH and extracted with dichloromethane. The mobile phase consisted of acetonitrile-water (50:50) containing 0.005 M 1-heptanesulfonic acid in 0.001% acetic acid. Using pronetalol as an internal standard, compounds were quantitated using fluorescence detection at 230 nm with a 300-nm emission filter and 0.02 AUFS. Extraction recovery is approximately 80% for both compounds. The lower limits of detection are 5 ng/mL and 4 ng/mL for metoprolol and alpha-hydroxymetoprolol, respectively.