Search results for "Drug Design"
showing 10 items of 232 documents
Design and experimental validation of a generic model for combinatorial assembly of DNA tiles into 1D-structures.
2010
Abstract Background Quantitative modeling of the self-assembly of DNA tiles leading either to defined end-products or distribution of biopolymers is of practical importance for biotechnology and synthetic biology. Methods The combinatorial process describing tile assembly was implemented into a generic algorithm allowing quantitative description of the population of significant species accumulating during the reaction course. Experimental formation and characterization by optical and electrophoresis approaches of copolymers resulting from the self-assembly of a limited number of half-complementary tiles were used to define and validate generic rules allowing definition of model parameters. …
Small molecule modulators of amine oxidation, nuclear receptor signaling and glucuronidation : 3-phenylcoumarin as a scaffold of interest
2018
The costs of the drug development process are moderated as computer-aided drug design methods are able to expedite the steps required for lead identification. In fact, computational tools are nowadays virtually indispensable from target identification and validation to preclinical tests due to exponential growth of available information regarding both potential targets and small molecules. One such small molecule with growing number of variations is coumarin. Coumarin scaffold and its various derivatives continue to interest researchers for their vast application potential. Since naturally occurring coumarins are known for example for their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, thos…
Prediction of properties of chiral compounds by molecular topology
1998
Abstract A common assumption in chemistry is that chiral behavior is associated with 3-D geometry. However, chiral information is related to symmetry, which allows the topological handling of chiral atoms by weighted graphs and the calculation of new descriptors that give a weight to the corresponding entry in the main diagonal of the topological matrix. In this study, it is demonstrated that, operating in this way, chiral topological indices are obtained that can differentiate the pharmacological activity between pairs of enantiomers. The 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) values of the D2 dopamine receptor and the σ receptor for a group of 3-hydroxy phenyl piperidines are specifically pr…
Discovery of Retinoic Acid-Related Orphan Receptor γt Inverse Agonists via Docking and Negative Image-Based Screening
2018
Retinoic acid-related orphan receptor γt (RORγt) has a vital role in the differentiation of T-helper 17 (TH17) cells. Potent and specific RORγt inverse agonists are sought for treating TH17-related diseases such as psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, and type 1 diabetes. Here, the aim was to discover novel RORγt ligands using both standard molecular docking and negative image-based screening. Interestingly, both of these in silico techniques put forward mostly the same compounds for experimental testing. In total, 11 of the 34 molecules purchased for testing were verified as RORγt inverse agonists, thus making the effective hit rate 32%. The pIC50 values for the compounds varied from 4.9 (11 μ…
Synthesis and biological evaluation of sphingosine kinase 2 inhibitors with anti-inflammatory activity.
2019
The synthesis of inhibitors of SphK2 with novel structural scaffolds is reported. These compounds were designed from a molecular modeling study, in which the molecular interactions stabilizing the different complexes were taken into account. Particularly interesting is that 7‐bromo‐2‐(2‐phenylethyl)‐2,3,4,5‐tetrahydro‐1,4‐epoxynaphtho[1,2‐b]azepine, which is a selective inhibitor of SphK2, does not exert any cytotoxic effects and has a potent anti‐inflammatory effect. It was found to inhibit mononuclear cell adhesion to the dysfunctional endothelium with minimal impact on neutrophil–endothelial cell interactions. The information obtained from our theoretical and experimental study can be us…
Design, synthesis, DNA-binding and cytotoxicity evaluation of new potential combilexines
2002
Combilexines, compounds in which a DNA intercalator is linked to a minor groove binding component, interact with the DNA in a sequence specific manner to yield in most cases compounds with anticancer activity. A series of new compounds closely related to netropsin in which the two components were linked by an amide group was synthesised as potential combilexines. As some of these compounds showed cytotoxic activity in vitro, an attempt was made to rationalise their mechanism of action. The DNA binding characteristics of the carboxamides were evaluated by thermal denaturation experiments and by ethidium bromide displacement assay. Their ability to inhibit the topoisomerase I was also determi…
Selected peptides targeted to the NMDA receptor channel protect neurons from excitotoxic death
1998
Excitotoxic neuronal death, associated with neurodegeneration and stroke, is triggered primarily by massive Ca2+ influx arising from overactivation of glutamate receptor channels of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) subtype. To search for channel blockers, synthetic combinatorial libraries were assayed for block of agonist-evoked currents by the human NR1-NR2A NMDA receptor subunits expressed in amphibian oocytes. A set of arginine-rich hexapeptides selectively blocked the NMDA receptor channel with IC50 approximately 100 nM, a potency similar to clinically tolerated blockers such as memantine, and only marginally blocked on non-NMDA glutamate receptors. These peptides prevent neuronal cell d…
Therapies in early development for the treatment of opiate addiction.
2015
Opiate drugs are psychoactive substances used to manage severe pain. However, their chronic use is associated with the development of addiction. Opiate addiction represents a significant public health concern.This review focuses on the most recent advances in the pharmacological treatment of opiate addiction, from those being tested in clinical trials (Phase I and II), to preclinical studies that point to new targets. Readers will gain knowledge of the wide variety of treatments used to treat opiate addiction, including their strengths and weaknesses, and the promising pharmacological targets identified by preclinical research.Among the currently available agonist therapies, new dosage form…
Myotonic dystrophy: candidate small molecule therapeutics
2017
Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) is a rare multisystemic neuromuscular disorder caused by expansion of CTG trinucleotide repeats in the noncoding region of the DMPK gene. Mutant DMPK transcripts are toxic and alter gene expression at several levels. Chiefly, the secondary structure formed by CUGs has a strong propensity to capture and retain proteins, like those of the muscleblind-like (MBNL) family. Sequestered MBNL proteins cannot then fulfill their normal functions. Many therapeutic approaches have been explored to reverse these pathological consequences. Here, we review the myriad of small molecules that have been proposed for DM1, including examples obtained from computational rational …
Improvements in Rational Design Strategies of Inulin Derivative Polycation for siRNA Delivery.
2016
The advances of short interfering RNA (siRNA)-mediated therapy provide a powerful option for the treatment of many diseases, including cancer, by silencing the expression of targeted genes involved in the progression of the pathology. On this regard, a new pH-responsive polycation derived from inulin, Inulin-g-imidazole-g-diethylenetriamine (INU-IMI-DETA), was designed and employed to produce INU-IMI-DETA/siRNA "Inulin COmplex Nanoaggregates" (ICONs). The experimental results showed that INU-IMI-DETA exhibited strong cationic characteristics and high solubility in the pH range 3-5 and self-aggregation triggered by pH increase and physiological salt concentration. INU-IMI-DETA showed as well…