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Drug Design Based on Marine Natural Product Scaffolds

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A special issue of Marine Drugs (ISSN 1660-3397).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2016) | Viewed by 33219

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Khalid A. El Sayed

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Guest Editor

School of Basic Pharmaceutical and Toxicological Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Louisiana at Monroe, 1800 Bienville Drive, Monroe, LA 71201, USA
Interests: olive phenolics; optimization of bioactive natural product scaffolds; breast cancer migration, invasion, metastasis and recurrence; c-Met/HGF pathway; PCSK9-LDLR interaction inhibitors; computer-aided/rational semisynthetic optimizations of natural products
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Drug design is based on optimization of a molecule to bind at a specific molecular target, usually a macromolecule, with high degree of selectivity and potency to achieve a specific therapeutic effective without any, or with minimal, off-target effects. The binding tools of the potential “drug entity” are usually unique diverse functional groups (pharmacophores). Marine natural products (MNPs) are characterized by their structural novelty, complexity, and diversity. Bioactive MNPs are capable of interacting with biological macromolecules, with high selectivity and potency. Researchers used marine secondary metabolites as molecular probes for many decades to interrogate the complex biological systems and/or utilize them as candidates to modulate pharmacologically-relevant signaling pathways underlying diseases. Seven marine-derived products have been approved as drugs by the United States Food and Drug Administration and/or European Medicines Agency to treat various diseases and others are showing outstanding success in different clinical trial phases. As a Guest Editor, I invite researchers to provide recent advances in which marine macro-and microorganisms-derived molecules are used for the discovery of novel scaffolds and pharmacophores that may inspire the design of potential drug candidates.

Prof. Dr. Khalid A. El Sayed
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Marine Drugs is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

binding mode
computer-aided drug design
drug design
drug discovery
drug scaffold
medicinal chemistry
molecular target
pharmacophores
signal transduction

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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3574 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Peptides, Peptidomimetics, and Polypeptides from Marine Sources: A Wealth of Natural Sources for Pharmaceutical Applications

by Rushikesh Sable, Pravin Parajuli and Seetharama Jois

Mar. Drugs 2017, 15(4), 124; https://doi.org/10.3390/md15040124 - 22 Apr 2017

Cited by 92 | Viewed by 12474

Abstract

Nature provides a variety of peptides that are expressed in most living species. Evolutionary pressure and natural selection have created and optimized these peptides to bind to receptors with high affinity. Hence, natural resources provide an abundant chemical space to be explored in peptide-based drug discovery. Marine peptides can be extracted by simple solvent extraction techniques. The advancement of analytical techniques has made it possible to obtain pure peptides from natural resources. Extracted peptides have been evaluated as possible therapeutic agents for a wide range of diseases, including antibacterial, antifungal, antidiabetic and anticancer activity as well as cardiovascular and neurotoxin activity. Although marine resources provide thousands of possible peptides, only a few peptides derived from marine sources have reached the pharmaceutical market. This review focuses on some of the peptides derived from marine sources in the past ten years and gives a brief review of those that are currently in clinical trials or on the market. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Drug Design Based on Marine Natural Product Scaffolds)

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Figure 1

1570 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Synthesis and Anti-Influenza A Virus Activity of 6′-amino-6′-deoxy-glucoglycerolipids Analogs

by Li Ren, Jun Zhang, Haizhen Ma, Linlin Sun, Xiaoshuang Zhang, Guangli Yu, Huashi Guan, Wei Wang and Chunxia Li

Mar. Drugs 2016, 14(6), 116; https://doi.org/10.3390/md14060116 - 18 Jun 2016

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 5964

Abstract

A series of aminoglucoglycerolipids derivatives had been synthesized, including 6′-acylamido-glucoglycerolipids 1a–1f and corresponding 2′-acylamido-glucoglycerolipids 2a–2c bearing different fatty acids, glucosyl diglycerides 3a–3e bearing different functional groups at C-6′ and ether-linked glucoglycerolipids 4a–4c with double-tailed alkyl alcohol. The anti-influenza A virus (IAV) activity was evaluated by the cytopathic effects (CPE) inhibition assay. The results indicated that the integral structure of the aminoglycoglycerolipid was essential for the inhibition of IAV in MDCK cells. Furthermore, oral administration of compound 1d was able to significantly improve survival and decrease pulmonary viral titers in IAV-infected mice, which suggested that compound 1d merited further investigation as a novel anti-IAV candidate in the future. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Drug Design Based on Marine Natural Product Scaffolds)

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3016 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Discovery of Novel Antiangiogenic Marine Natural Product Scaffolds

by Hassan Y. Ebrahim and Khalid A. El Sayed

Mar. Drugs 2016, 14(3), 57; https://doi.org/10.3390/md14030057 - 11 Mar 2016

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 6676

Abstract

Marine natural products (MNPs) are recognized for their structural complexity, diversity, and novelty. The vast majority of MNPs are pharmacologically relevant through their ability to modulate macromolecular targets underlying human diseases. Angiogenesis is a fundamental process in cancer progression and metastasis. Targeting angiogenesis through selective modulation of linked protein kinases is a valid strategy to discover novel effective tumor growth and metastasis inhibitors. An in-house marine natural products mini-library, which comprises diverse MNP entities, was submitted to the Lilly’s Open Innovation Drug Discovery platform. Accepted structures were subjected to in vitro screening to discover mechanistically novel angiogenesis inhibitors. Active hits were subjected to additional angiogenesis-targeted kinase profiling. Some natural and semisynthetic MNPs, including multiple members of the macrolide latrunculins, the macrocyclic oxaquinolizidine alkaloid araguspongine C, and the sesquiterpene quinone puupehenone, showed promising results in primary and secondary angiogenesis screening modules. These hits inhibited vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-mediated endothelial tube-like formation, with minimal cytotoxicity at relevant doses. Secondary kinase profiling identified six target protein kinases, all involved in angiogenesis signaling pathways. Molecular modeling and docking experiments aided the understanding of molecular binding interactions, identification of pharmacophoric epitopes, and deriving structure-activity relationships of active hits. Marine natural products are prolific resources for the discovery of chemically and mechanistically unique selective antiangiogenic scaffolds. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Drug Design Based on Marine Natural Product Scaffolds)

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Review

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2072 KiB

Open AccessReview

Marine Natural Product Inhibitors of Neutrophil-Associated Inflammation

by Chun-Yu Chen, Yung-Fong Tsai, Wen-Yi Chang, Shun-Chin Yang and Tsong-Long Hwang

Mar. Drugs 2016, 14(8), 141; https://doi.org/10.3390/md14080141 - 26 Jul 2016

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 7439

Abstract

Neutrophils are widely recognized to play an important role in acute inflammatory responses, and recent evidence has expanded their role to modulating chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) and microbicidal compounds released from neutrophils that are recruited to the site of inflammation contribute to the pathogenesis of multiple inflammation-associated diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, atherosclerosis, and hepatitis. Marine organisms are a valuable source of bioactive compounds with potential for industrial and pharmaceutical application. Marine natural products that inhibit neutrophil activation could be used as drugs for the treatment of inflammatory diseases. Numerous studies investigating marine natural products have reported novel anti-inflammatory agents. Nevertheless, the detailed mechanisms underlying their actions, which could facilitate our understanding of the molecular events occurring in neutrophils, have not been reported in most of the associated research studies. Therefore, in this review, we will present marine products that inhibit neutrophil-associated inflammation. Furthermore, we will be limiting the detailed discussion to agents with well-investigated molecular targets. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Drug Design Based on Marine Natural Product Scaffolds)

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