Scientific community is striving to understand the role of heterocycles and fused heterocycles in drug discovery programme due to its impact on multi-drug resistance (MDR) of anticancer drugs. ...Architecting of various scaffolds for cancer treatment has become gradually increased in many years. Till now there is no treatment which is so proficient that it can cure the cancer from the roots. Hence, it is very necessary to design novel anticancer agents with minimum side effects. Synthesis of hybrids from natural leads is one of the rationale approaches in medicinal chemistry. It remains a big challenge to invent new efficient drugs to beat cancer. The design and synthesis of fused molecules as anticancer agents is one of the great innovations of modern era. In drug discovery archetype, a variety of heterocycles have been considered for the development of novel lead compounds. This article presents some recent advancements in the field of anticancer heterocyclic agents all around the world and also attracted the structure activity relationship along with the structure of the most promising molecules along with IC50 values against various human cancer cell lines.
Preterm birth (PTB) (< 37 completed weeks gestation) is a pathological outcome of pregnancy and its associated complications are the leading global cause of death in children younger than 5 years of ...age. Babies born prematurely have an elevated risk for short- and long-term adverse effects of medical and neurodevelopmental sequelae. Substantial evidence suggests that multiple sets of symptoms are allied with PTB etiology, and the exact mechanism cannot be recognized. Notably, various proteins, especially (i) complement cascade; (ii) immune system; and (iii) clotting cascade, have become attractive research targets that are associated with PTB. Further, a small imbalance of these proteins in maternal or foetal circulation could serve as a marker/precursor in a series of events that lead to PTBs. Thus, the present review lightens the basic description of the circulating proteins, their role in PTB, and current concepts for future development. Further, deepening the research on these proteins will lead to a better understanding of PTB etiology and alleviate scientists' confidence in the early identification of PTB mechanisms and biological markers.
More than 150 million people have significant fungal diseases that greatly impact health care and economic expenditures. The expansion of systemic fungal infections and invasive mycoses is being ...driven by an increase in the number of immunocompromised patients and the recent COVID-19 patients, especially severely ill. There have been numerous cases of fungal infections linked to COVID-19, with pulmonary aspergillosis dominating at first but with the subsequent appearance of mucormycosis, candidiasis, and endemic mycoses. Candida spp. is the most frequent pathogen, with approximately 1 billion infections yearly, among other species causing the most prevalent invasive fungal infections. The importance of recognizing the epidemiological shifts of invasive fungal infections in patient care cannot be overstated. Despite the enormous antifungal therapies available, these infections are difficult to diagnose and cause high morbidity and mortality rates. Treatment choices for systemic fungal infections are severely limited due to the limitations of conventional therapy effectiveness and drug toxicities. So the researchers are still looking for novel therapeutic options, such as carrier-based approaches that are convenient and cost-effective with high and long-lasting fungal infection cure rates with reduced toxicities. The focus of this study is on summarizing the nanotechnology, immunotherapy methods and the drugs under clinical trials that have been employed in treatment as carrier-based antifungal formulations. Most of these have been reported to be promising strategies with broad-spectrum antifungal action and the potential to overcome antibiotic resistance mechanisms. We speculate that this review summarized the current knowledge to its best that will help the future developments of new antifungal therapies.
In the present study, a series of 2,4-diarylpyrano3,2-cchromen-5(4H)-ones were synthesised and evaluated as antiproliferative agents. The compounds were evaluated against a panel of human cancer cell ...lines. CH-1 exhibited significant cytoxicity against HCT 116 cell lines with an IC50 value of 1.4 and 4.3 µM against “MiaPaCa-2” cell lines. The compound CH-1 was found to induce apoptosis as evidenced by phase contrast microscopy, Hoechst 33258 staining and mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) loss. The cell phase distribution studies indicated that the apoptotic population increased from 10.22% in the control sample to 57.19% in a sample treated with 20 µM compound CH-1.
The present study involves the design and synthesis of naphthoflavones as antiproliferative agents. The strategy presents naphthoflavones as hybrids of naphthyl based chalcones and flavones. A panel ...of human cancer cell lines were employed for the cytotoxicity studies. DK-13 exhibited significant cytoxicity against MiaPaCa-2 cell lines with IC50 value of 1.93 μM and 5.63 μM against MCF-7 cell lines. The compound DK-13 was found to induce apoptosis evidenced through phase contrast microscopy, DAPI staining, and mitochondrial membrane potential loss. The cell phase distribution studies indicated an increase from 11.26 % (control sample) to 55.19 % (sample treated with 20 μM compound DK-13) in the apoptotic population.
Aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 (ALDH1A1), an oxidoreductase class of enzymes, is overexpressed in various types of cancer cell lines and is the major cause of resistance to the Food and Drug Administration ...(FDA)‐approved drug, cyclophosphamide (CP). In cancer conditions, CP undergoes a sequence of biotransformations to form an active metabolite, aldophosphamide, which further biotransforms to its putative cytotoxic metabolite, phosphoramide mustard. However, in resistant cancer conditions, aldophosphamide is converted into its inactive metabolite, carboxyphosphamide, via oxidation with ALDH1A1. Herein, to address the issue of ALDH1A1 mediated CP resistance, we report a series of benzodoxazol‐2(3H)‐one and 2‐oxazolo4,5‐bpyridin‐2(3H)‐one derivatives as selective ALDH1A1 inhibitors. These inhibitors were designed using a validated 3D‐quantitative structure activity relationship (3D‐QSAR) model coupled with scaffold hopping. The 3D‐QSAR model was developed using reported indole‐2,3‐diones based ALDH1A1 inhibitors, which provided field points in terms of electrostatic, van der Waals and hydrophobic potentials required for selectively inhibiting ALDH1A1. The most selective indole‐2,3‐diones‐based compound, that is, cmp 3, was further considered for scaffold hopping. Two top‐ranked bioisosteres, that is, benzodoxazol‐2(3H)‐one and 2‐oxazolo4,5‐bpyridin‐2(3H)‐one, were selected for designing new inhibitors by considering the field pattern of 3D‐QSAR. All designed molecules were mapped perfectly on the 3D‐QSAR model and found to be predictive with good inhibitory potency (pIC50 range: 7.5–6.8). Molecular docking was carried out for each designed molecule to identify key interactions that are required for ALDH1A1 inhibition and to authenticate the 3D‐QSAR result. The top five inhibitor‐ALDH1A1 complexes were also submitted for molecular dynamics simulations to access their stability. In vitro enzyme assays of 21 compounds suggested that these compounds are selective toward ALDH1A1 over the other two isoforms, that is, ALDH2 and ALDH3A1. All the compounds were found to be at least three and two times more selective toward ALDH1A1 over ALDH2 and ALDH3A1, respectively. All the compounds showed an IC50 value in the range of 0.02–0.80 μM, which indicates the potential for these to be developed as adjuvant therapy for CP resistance.
A series of benzodoxazol‐2(3H)‐one and 2‐oxazolo4,5‐bpyridin‐2(3H)‐one derivatives were designed as selective aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 (ALDH1A1) inhibitors, using a validated 3D‐QSAR model coupled with scaffold hopping. All compounds were found to be at least 2–3 times more selective toward ALDH1A1 than ALDH2 and ALDH3A1. Based on their IC50 values, all the compounds showed the potential to be developed as adjuvant therapy for cyclophosphamide resistance.
Myopia is a widespread and complex refractive error in which a person's ability to see distant objects clearly is impaired. Its prevalence rate is increasing worldwide, and as per WHO, it is ...projected to increase from 22% in 2000 to 52% by 2050. It is more prevalent in developed, industrial areas and affects individuals of all ages. There are a number of treatments available for the control of myopia, such as glasses, contact lenses, laser surgery, and pharmaceuticals agents. However, these treatments are less beneficial and have significant side effects. A novel molecule, 7-methylxanthine (7-MX), has been found to be a highly beneficial alternate in the treatment of myopia and excessive eye elongation. Many preclinical and clinical studies showed that 7-MX is effective for the treatment of myopia and is presently under phase II of clinical investigation. We have also investigated preclinical toxicity studies such as acute, sub-acute, sub-chronic, and chronic on rats. In these studies, 7-MX was found to be non-toxic as compared to other reported anti-myopic agents. Moreover, as an ideal drug, 7-MX is observed to have no or low toxicity, brain permeability, non-allergic, higher oral administration efficacy, and low treatment costs and thus qualifies for the long-term treatment of myopia. This review article on 7-MX as an alternative to myopia treatment will highlight recent findings from well-designed preclinical and clinical trials and propose a potential future therapy.
Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a lung complication of COVID-19 that requires intensive care and ventilation. Beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) is a ketone body that can modulate metabolism ...and inflammation in immune cells and lung tissues. We hypothesized that oral BHB could alleviate COVID-19 related ARDS by reducing pro-inflammatory cytokines and increasing anti-inflammatory cytokines.
We randomized 75 patients with mild (as per Berlin criteria) ARDS symptoms to receive oral 25 g twice daily or placebo for five days. The primary outcome was the change in pro-inflammatory cytokines (Interleukin-1β, Interleukin-6, interleukin-18, tumour necrosis factor-alpha) and anti-inflammatory cytokine (interleukin-10) from baseline to day 5. The secondary outcomes were the change in BHB levels from baseline to day 5, the number of hospitalization days, and the occurrence of adverse events.
Treatment with formulated BHB resulted in a significant decrease in pro-inflammatory cytokines; Interleukin-1β (p = 0.0204), Interleukin-6 (p = 0.0309), interleukin-18 (p = 0.0116), tumour necrosis factor-alpha (p = 0.0489) and increase in interleukin-10 (p = 0.0246) compared treatment with placebo. Importantly, higher BHB levels (p = 0.0001) were observed after supplementation; additionally, patients who underwent this approach were hospitalized for fewer days. No serious adverse events were reported.
Beta-hydroxybutyrate, an oral adjunct therapy, has shown promising results in ameliorating symptoms of ARDS. This includes reduced inflammation, oxidative stress, and decreased patient fatigue levels. Further study with a large sample size is warranted to assess the potential of BHB therapy's effectiveness in reducing the development of severe illness.
(http://ctri.nic.in/CTRI/2021/03/031790)
In an attempt to improve the localized paclitaxel delivery, carrier based thermoresponsive chitosan hydrogel was exploited in the present study. Nanoliposomes as carrier for paclitaxel were prepared ...and optimized in strength of 6 mg/ml similar to marketed paclitaxel formulation. The chitosan solution (2% w/v) mixed with different concentrations of dibasic sodium phosphate (DSP) was evaluated as thermoresponsive systems in terms of gelling temperature and time. Finally, the drug loaded nanoliposomes were incorporated in optimized chitosan- DSP hydrogel base to form nanoliposomal in situ thermosensitive hydrogel formulations having dual mechanism of protection and release. The optimal formulation containing DSP was selected on the basis of minimal gelation temperature (37±0.8 ºC) and time (6.7±0.3 min). In vitro drug release experiment illustrated that developed formulation manifested sustained release action in which drug release was extended for more than 72 h compared to marketed formulation. In addition, optimized nanoliposomal hydrogel demonstrated enhanced biological half-life of 15.7±1.5h, depicting maintenance of constant plasma concentration in contrast to marketed formulation that showed the half-life (t1/2) of 3.6±0.4h. The in vivo anti tumor activity tested using EAC model also corroborated the above findings that developed formulation was having significant higher anti-tumor activity and reduced toxicity than the marketed formulation. Tumor volume was found to reduce upto 89.1±3.5% by treatment with in situ hydrogel formulation. The histopathological study of tumor also demonstrated the better safety and efficacy of developed formulation in comparison to marketed paclitaxel formulation. Our results suggest that carrier based chitosan hydrogel could be an efficacious vehicle for sustained and localized delivery of paclitaxel.
A popular approach for improving transdermal drug delivery involves the use of penetration enhancers (sorption promoters or accelerants) which penetrate into skin to reversibly reduce the barrier ...resistance. The potential mechanisms of action of penetration enhancers include disruption of intercellular lipid and/or keratin domains and tight junctions. This results in enhanced drug partitioning into tissue, altered thermodynamic activity/solubility of drug etc. Synthetic chemicals (solvents, azones, pyrrolidones, surfactants etc.) generally used for this purpose are rapidly losing their value in transdermal patches due to reports of their absorption into the systemic circulation and subsequent possible toxic effect upon long term application. Terpenes are included in the list of Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) substances and have low irritancy potential. Their mechanism of percutaneous permeation enhancement involves increasing the solubility of drugs in skin lipids, disruption of lipid/protein organization and/or extraction of skin micro constituents that are responsible for maintenance of barrier status. Hence, they appear to offer great promise for use in transdermal formulations. This article is aimed at reviewing the mechanisms responsible for percutaneous permeation enhancement activity of terpenes, which shall foster their rational use in transdermal formulations.
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