Search results for "drug design"

Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of new anticancer drugs: FGFR inhibitors

2021

Fibroblast growth factor receptors (FGFRs) constitute a family of tyrosine kinases receptors (RTKs) that exert pivotal physiological functions in human embryonic and adult tissues. Hyperactivated FGFR signaling drives tumorigenesis in multiple cancer types, including lung and brain cancers. Great effort has been laid on the development of new compounds that specifically target the FGFR axis. However, cancer cell- based and microenvironmental resistance mechanisms against FGFR inhibitors often arise and are currently poorly understood. Furthermore, FGFR-targeted therapy often presents different side effects, e due to the broad biological spectrum of the FGFR signaling axis as well as to its …

Bioactive pyrrole-based compounds with target selectivity

2020

The discovery of novel synthetic compounds with drug-like properties is an ongoing challenge in medicinal chemistry. Natural products have inspired the synthesis of compounds for pharmaceutical application, most of which are based on N-heterocyclic motifs. Among these, the pyrrole ring is one of the most explored heterocycles in drug discovery programs for several therapeutic areas, confirmed by the high number of pyrrole-based drugs reaching the market. In the present review, we focused on pyrrole and its hetero-fused derivatives with anticancer, antimicrobial, and antiviral activities, reported in the literature between 2015 and 2019, for which a specific target was identified, being resp…

Advances in Targeting Signal Transduction Pathways

2012

// James A. McCubrey 1 , Linda S. Steelman 1 , William H. Chappell 1 , Lin Sun 1,2 , Nicole M. Davis 1 , Stephen L. Abrams 1 , Richard A. Franklin 1 , Lucio Cocco 3 , Camilla Evangelisti 4 , Francesca Chiarini 4 , Alberto M. Martelli 3,4 , Massimo Libra 5 , Saverio Candido 5 , Giovanni Ligresti 5 , Grazia Malaponte 5 , Maria C. Mazzarino 5 , Paolo Fagone 5 , Marco Donia 5 , Ferdinando Nicoletti 5 , Jerry Polesel 6 , Renato Talamini 6 , Jorg Basecke 7 , Sanja Mijatovic 8 , Danijela Maksimovic-Ivanic 8 , Michele Milella 9 , Agostino Tafuri 10 , Joanna Dulinska-Litewka 11 , Piotr Laidler 11 , Antonio B. D’Assoro 12 , Lyudmyla Drobot 13 , Kazuo Umezawa 14 , Giuseppe Montalto 15 , Melchiorre Cer…

Polyamine conjugates of stigmasterol.

2012

Abstract Three new polyamine conjugates with stigmasterol [(3β,22 E )-stigmasta-5,22-dien-3-ol] were synthesized and subjected to basic antimicrobial and cytotoxic tests. The conjugate derived from spermine, (3β,22 E )-stigmasta-5,22-dien-3-yl 4(12-amino-4,9-diaza-dodecylamino)-4-oxobutanoate ( 5c ), displayed considerable antimicrobial activity on Staphylococcus aureus at low concentration (50 μg mL −1 ). The cytotoxic activity was tested on cells of human T-lymfoblastic leukemia (IC 50  = 35.8 ± 10.3 μM ( 5c ) and IC 50  = 35.9 ± 5.7 μM ( 5b )) and normal human fibroblasts (IC 50  = 38.0 ± 2.8 μM ( 5c ) and IC 50  = 45.5 ± 1.9 μM ( 5b )). Conjugate 5a displayed no activity in both tests.

Relaxant effect of sildenafil in the rabbit basilar artery

2005

We hypothesized that sildenafil, inhibitor of phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE-5), interacts with the nitric oxide (NO)-cGMP pathway in the cerebral arteries and shows vasoactive effects. To prove it in the isolated rabbit basilar artery, we compared the effects of sildenafil with other PDE-5 inhibitors, assessed the endothelial dependence of the vasoactive responses, and used modulators of the cGMP and cAMP signaling processes. Sildenafil (10 nM-0.1 mM) induced concentration-dependent relaxations of endothelin-1 (10 nM)-precontracted basilar artery, which were partially inhibited both in endothelium-denuded arteries and in arteries precontracted by depolarization with KCl (50 mM). Endothelin-1 (1 …

De novo design of protein kinase inhibitors by in silico identification of hinge region-binding fragments.

2013

Protein kinases constitute an attractive family of enzyme targets with high relevance to cell and disease biology. Small molecule inhibitors are powerful tools to dissect and elucidate the function of kinases in chemical biology research and to serve as potential starting points for drug discovery. However, the discovery and development of novel inhibitors remains challenging. Here, we describe a structure-based de novo design approach that generates novel, hinge-binding fragments that are synthetically feasible and can be elaborated to small molecule libraries. Starting from commercially available compounds, core fragments were extracted, filtered for pharmacophoric properties compatible w…

Therapeutic targets for overactive bladder other than smooth muscle

2015

For a long time, our concepts of regulation of urinary bladder function in health and disease as well as of the target structures of therapeutics have focused on detrusor smooth muscle cells. However, other structures including urothelium, afferent nerves and bladder blood vessels may also be important in pathophysiology and its treatment.Based on a selective review of literature, we discuss the role of urothelium, afferent nerve fibers and bladder blood vessels in bladder pathophysiology and as targets for treatment.There is solid evidence now that multiple anatomical structures within the urinary bladder contribute to the regulation of its function and hence may be targets for established…

Human exome and mouse embryonic expression data implicate ZFHX3, TRPS1, and CHD7 in human esophageal atresia

2020

Introduction Esophageal atresia with or without tracheoesophageal fistula (EA/TEF) occurs approximately 1 in 3.500 live births representing the most common malformation of the upper digestive tract. Only half a century ago, EA/TEF was fatal among affected newborns suggesting that the steady birth prevalence might in parts be due to mutational de novo events in genes involved in foregut development. Methods To identify mutational de novo events in EA/TEF patients, we surveyed the exome of 30 case-parent trios. Identified and confirmed de novo variants were prioritized using in silico prediction tools. To investigate the embryonic role of genes harboring prioritized de novo variants we perfor…

Study and identification of new molecular descriptors, finalized to the development of Virtual Screening techniques through the use of deep neural ne…

2022

Alzheimer: A Decade of Drug Design. Why Molecular Topology can be an Extra Edge?

2017

Background The last decade was characterized by a growing awareness about the severity of dementia in the field of age-related and no age-related diseases and about the importance to invest resources in the research of new, effective treatments. Among the dementias, Alzheimer's plays a substantial role because of its extremely high incidence and fatality. Several pharmacological strategies have been tried but still now, Alzheimer keeps being an untreatable disease. In literature, the number of QSAR related drug design attempts about new treatments for Alzheimer is huge, but only few results can be considered noteworthy. Providing a detailed analysis of the actual situation and reporting the…