Search results for " DISCOVERY"
showing 10 items of 4082 documents
Curcumin downregulates expression of opioid-related nociceptin receptor gene (OPRL1) in isolated neuroglia cells.
2018
Abstract Background: Curcumin (CC) exerts polyvalent pharmacological actions and multi-target effects, including pain relief and anti-nociceptive activity. In combination with Boswellia serrata extract (BS), curcumin shows greater efficacy in knee osteoarthritis management, presumably due to synergistic interaction of the ingredients. Aim: To elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying the analgesic activity of curcumin and its synergistic interaction with BS. Methods: We performed gene expression profiling by transcriptome-wide mRNA sequencing in human T98G neuroglia cells treated with CC (Curamed), BS, and the combination of CC and BS (CC-BS; Curamin), followed by interactive pathways a…
Design, synthesis and preliminary evaluation of dopamine-amino acid conjugates as potential D1 dopaminergic modulators.
2016
Abstract The dopamine-amino acid conjugate DA-Phen was firstly designed to obtain a useful prodrug for the therapy of Parkinson's disease, but experimental evidence shows that it effectively interacts with D1 dopamine receptors (D1DRs), leading to an enhancement in cognitive flexibility and to the development of adaptive strategies in aversive mazes, together with a decrease in despair-like behavior. In this paper, homology modelling, molecular dynamics, and site mapping of D1 receptor were carried out with the aim of further performing docking studies on other dopamine conjugates compared with D1 agonists, in the attempt to identify new compounds with potential dopaminergic activity. Two n…
Reversal of multidrug resistance by Marsdenia tenacissima and its main active ingredients polyoxypregnanes.
2016
Abstract Ethnopharmacological relevance Multidrug resistance (MDR) of cancer is often associated with the overexpression of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters, such as P-glycoprotein (P-gp), multidrug resistance-associated protein-1 (MRP-1) and breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP or ABCG2), in cancer cells, which facilitates the active efflux of a wide variety of chemotherapeutic drugs out of the cells. Marsdenia tenacissima is a traditional Chinese medicinal herb that has long been clinically used for treatment of cancers, particularly in combinational use with anticancer drugs. Polyoxypregnanes (POPs) are identified as main constituents of this herb, and three of them have been re…
Fishing anti-inflammatories from known drugs: In silico repurposing, design, synthesis and biological evaluation of bisacodyl analogues
2017
Herein is described in silico repositioning, design, synthesis, biological evaluation and structure-activity relationship (SAR) of an original class of anti-inflammatory agents based on a polyaromatic pharmacophore structurally related to bisacodyl (BSL) drug used in therapeutic as laxative. We describe the potential of TOMOCOMD-CARDD methods to find out new anti-inflammatory drug-like agents from a diverse series of compounds using the total and local atom based bilinear indices as molecular descriptors. The models obtained were validated by biological studies, identifying BSL as the first anti-inflammatory lead-like using in silico repurposing from commercially available drugs. Several bi…
Usefulness of Caco-2/HT29-MTX and Caco-2/HT29-MTX/Raji B Coculture Models To Predict Intestinal and Colonic Permeability Compared to Caco-2 Monocultu…
2017
The Caco-2 cellular monolayer is a widely accepted in vitro model to predict human permeability but suffering from several and critical limitations. Therefore, some alternative cell cultures to mimic the human intestinal epithelium, as closely as possible, have been developed to achieve more physiological conditions, as the Caco-2/HT29-MTX coculture and the triple Caco-2/HT29-MTX/Raji B models. In this work the permeability of 12 model drugs of different Biopharmaceutical Classification System (BCS) characteristics, in the coculture and triple coculture models was assessed. Additionally, the utility of both models to classify compounds according to the BCS criteria was scrutinized. The obta…
Kinase Inhibitors in Multitargeted Cancer Therapy
2017
The old-fashioned anticancer approaches, aiming in arresting cancer cell proliferation interfering with non-specific targets (e.g. DNA), have been replaced, in the last decades, by more specific target oriented ones. Nonetheless, single-target approaches have not always led to optimal outcomes because, for its complexity, cancer needs to be tackled at various levels by modulation of several targets. Although at present, combinations of individual single-target drugs represent the most clinically practiced therapeutic approaches, the modulation of multiple proteins by a single drug, in accordance with the polypharmacological strategy, has become more and more appealing. In the perspective of…
Drugs Polypharmacology by in Silico Methods: New Opportunities in Drug Discovery
2016
Background Polypharmacology, defined as the modulation of multiple proteins rather than a single target to achieve a desired therapeutic effect, has been gaining increasing attention since 1990s, when industries had to withdraw several drugs due to their adverse effects, leading to permanent injuries or death, with multi-billiondollar legal damages. Therefore, if up to then the "one drug one target" paradigm had seen many researchers interest focused on the identification of selective drugs, with the strong expectation to avoid adverse drug reactions (ADRs), very recently new research strategies resulted more appealing even as attempts to overcome the decline in productivity of the drug dis…
Overview of key molecular and pharmacological targets for diabetes and associated diseases
2021
Diabetes epidemiological quantities are demonstrating one of the most important communities' health worries. The essential diabetic difficulties are including cardiomyopathy, nephropathy, inflammation, and retinopathy. Despite developments in glucose decreasing treatments and drugs, these diabetic complications are still ineffectively reversed or prohibited. Several signaling and molecular pathways are vital targets in the new therapies of diabetes. This review assesses the newest researches about the key molecules and signaling pathways as targets of molecular pharmacology in diabetes and diseases related to it for better treatment based on molecular sciences. The disease is not cured by c…
Myotonic dystrophy type 1 drug development: A pipeline toward the market
2021
Highlights • Myotonic dystrophy, a neuromuscular disease, affects at least around half a million people worldwide. • Close to two dozen preclinical and clinical drug development programs active. • Drugs encompass new chemical entities, repurposing, oligonucleotide, and gene therapy. • Tideglusib, mexiletine, and metformin are close to reaching marketing authorization.
Nutraceuticals as an Important Part of Combination Therapy in Dyslipidaemia
2017
Several risk factors such as abnormality of lipid metabolism (e.g. high levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), elevated triglycerides and low levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C)) play a central role in the aetiology of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Nutraceutical combination together with a cholesterol- lowering action, when associated with suitable lifestyle, should furnish an alternative to pharmacotherapy in patients reporting statin-intolerance and in subjects at low cardiovascular risk. The present review is focused on nutraceuticals and their synergetic combinations demonstrating a beneficial effect in the management of dyslipidaemia. Several nutraceu…