Pharmaceuticals, Volume 12, Issue 4

Background: Elevated S100 calcium binding protein B (S100B) levels in systemic circulation may induce neuroinflammation and reflect greater blood–brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction. Neuroinflammation in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), in...

Dual-specificity tyrosine phosphorylation-regulated kinases (DYRKs) hyperactivity has been linked to the development of a number of human malignancies. DYRK1A is the most studied family member, and the discovery of novel specific inhibitors is attrac...

A small library of sugar-based (i.e., glucose, mannose and lactose) monoesters containing hydrophobic aliphatic or aromatic tails were synthesized and tested. The antimicrobial activity of the compounds against a target panel of Gram-positive, Gram-n...

Diclofenac belongs to the drug class non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs widely used in Europe as well as all over the world. Thus, it is important to conduct research on its quality control of available pharmaceutical preparations like for example...

In this review, we discuss novel natural products discovered within the last decade that are reported to have antifungal activity against pathogenic species. Nearly a hundred natural products were identified that originate from bacteria, algae, fungi...

PDEF (prostate-derived ETS factor, also known as SAM-pointed domain containing ETS transcription factor (SPDEF)) is expressed in luminal epithelial cells of the prostate gland and associates with luminal phenotype. The Hippo pathway regulates cell gr...

ZL277 is a prodrug of belinostat with enhanced bioavailability and efficacy as a pan histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor. In this study, we investigated the metabolism and pharmacokinetics of ZL277 in liver S9 fractions, liver microsomes, liver cyto...

The 27th annual GP2A (Groupement des Pharmacochimistes de l′Arc Atlantique/Group of Medicinal Chemists in the Atlantic Arc) conference took place from 21 to 23 August 2019, at the East Midlands Conference Centre (University Park, Nottingham, Un...

Iron is essential for almost all organisms, being involved in oxygen transport, DNA synthesis, and respiration; however, it is also potentially toxic via the formation of free radicals [...]

The immunoreactive fraction r provides important information on the functional purity of radiolabeled proteins. It is traditionally determined by saturating the radioimmunoconjugate with an increasing excess of antigen, followed by linear extrapolati...

Fluorescent labelling of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) is classically performed by chemical bioconjugation methods. The most frequent labelling technique to generate antibody–fluorophore conjugates (AFCs) involves the bioconjugation onto the mAb...

The plant species Libidibia ferrea (Mart. ex Tul.) LP Queiroz var. ferrea basionym of Caesalpinia ferrea (Mart. ex Tul.) is used in various regions of Brazil in folk medicine in the treatment of several health problems, especially in acute and chroni...

Hydroethanolic preparations of the botanical species Acmella oleracea L. are used in the north of Brazil for the treatment of various diseases. However, few studies have been conducted to evaluate the toxicity of this species. The objective of this s...

The emerging role of epigenetics in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases has recently attracted much interest on the possible use of epigenetic modulators for the prevention and treatment of these diseases. In particular, we and others have shown...

The interaction between hepcidin and ferroportin is the key mechanism involved in regulation of systemic iron homeostasis. This axis can be affected by multiple stimuli including plasma iron levels, inflammation and erythropoietic demand. Genetic def...

Conventional chemotherapy regimens have limitations due to serious adverse effects. Targeted drug delivery systems to reduce systemic toxicity are a powerful drug development platform. Encapsulation of antitumor drug(s) in thermosensitive nanocarrier...

Herbal therapy is a potential alternative applied to pharmacological alleviation of depression symptoms and treatment of this disorder, which is predicted by the World Health Organization (WHO) to be the most serious health problem worldwide over the...

Fourteen arylsemicarbazone derivatives were synthesized and evaluated in order to find agents with potential anticancer activity. Cytotoxic screening was performed against K562, HL-60, MOLT-4, HEp-2, NCI-H292, HT-29 and MCF-7 tumor cell lines. Compou...

The antimicrobial, antioxidant, and cytotoxic activities of a series of saccharin–tetrazolyl and –thiadiazolyl analogs were examined. The assessment of the antimicrobial properties of the referred-to molecules was completed through an eva...

Research on the adenosine receptors has been supported by the continuous discovery of new chemical probes characterized by more and more affinity and selectivity for the single adenosine receptor subtypes (A₁, A_2A, A_2B and A₃ adenosine receptors). Fu...

Overexpression of folate receptors (FRs) on different tumor types (e.g., ovarian, lung) make FRs attractive in vivo targets for directed diagnostic/therapeutic agents. Currently, no diagnostic agent suitable for positron emission tomography (PET) has...

Molecular targeting therapies often cause characteristic adverse effects, such as skin rash during anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) therapies, making treatment continuation difficult. In contrast, skin symptoms induced by EGFR inhibition...

Systemic messenger RNA (mRNA) delivery, although still in its infancy, holds immense potential for application in cancer vaccination and immunotherapy. Its advantages over DNA transfection make it attractive in applications where transient expression...

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has drawn great interest in recent years mainly due to its low side effects and few drug resistances. Nevertheless, one of the issues of PDT is the need for oxygen to induce a photodynamic effect. Tumours often have low oxy...

There is an urgent need to propose effective treatments for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Although the origin of the disease is poorly understood, several therapeutic options have been proposed. The new therapeutic approaches targeting biometal-med...

We analyzed antitumor effects of a series of curcumin analogues. Some of them were obtained by reaction of substitution involving the two phenolic OH groups of curcumin while the analogues with a substituent at C-4 was prepared following an original...

Gram-negative bacteria’s resistance such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and the Burkholderia group to conventional antibiotics leads to therapeutic failure. Use of siderophores as Trojan horses to internalize antibacterial agents or toxic metals wit...

The amino-3,5-dicyanopyridine derivatives belong to an intriguing series of adenosine receptor (AR) ligands that has been developed by both academic researchers and industry. Indeed, the studies carried out to date underline the versatility of the di...

The antidepressant placebo response remains a barrier to the development of novel therapies for depression, despite decades of efforts to identify and methodologically address its clinical correlates. This manuscript reviews recent neuroimaging studi...

Neurogenesis is the process by which undifferentiated progenitor cells develop into mature and functional neurons. Defects in neurogenesis are associated with neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders; therefore, elucidating the molecular mec...

Human life has been at the edge of catastrophe for millennia due diseases which emerge and reemerge at random. The recent outbreak of the Zika virus (ZIKV) is one such menace that shook the global public health community abruptly. Modern technologies...

Targeted thorium-227 conjugates (TTCs) represent a novel class of therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals for the treatment of cancer. TTCs consist of the alpha particle emitter thorium-227 complexed to a 3,2-hydroxypyridinone chelator conjugated to a tumor...

Solid core drug delivery systems (SCDDS) were prepared for the oral delivery of biomolecules using mesoporous silica as core, bovine haemoglobin (bHb) as model drug and supercritical fluid (SCF) processing as encapsulation technique. The use of organ...

The effect of analogue Pd(II)-, Pt(II)-, and Au(III) compounds featuring 2-(2′-pyridyl)benzimidazole on the aggregation propensity of amyloid-like peptides derived from Aβ and from the C-terminal domain of nucleophosmin 1 was investigated....

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder characterized by chronic hyperglycemia together with disturbances in the metabolism of carbohydrates, proteins and fat, which in general results from an insulin availability and need imbalance. In a grea...

Diamond-Blackfan anemia (DBA) is a rare bone marrow failure syndrome characterized by red blood cell aplasia. Currently, mutations in 19 ribosomal protein genes have been identified in patients. However, the pathogenic mechanism of DBA remains unknow...

Potent and selective adenosine receptor (AR) agonists are of pharmacological interest for the treatment of a wide range of diseases and conditions. Among these derivatives, nucleoside-based agonists represent the great majority of molecules developed...

Lurasidone is an atypical mood-stabilizing antipsychotic agent with unique receptor-binding profile, including 5-HT7 receptor (5-HT7R) antagonism. Effects of 5-HT7R antagonism on transmitter systems of schizophrenia and mood disorders, however, have...

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photodiagnosis (PD) are essential approaches in the field of biophotonics. Ideally, both modalities require the selective sensitization of the targeted disease in order to avoid undesired phenomena such as the destructi...

Ninety years after the discovery of the virus causing the influenza disease, this malady remains one of the biggest public health threats to mankind. Currently available drugs and vaccines only partially reduce deaths and hospitalizations. Some of th...

The great advances in the studies on metal complexes for the treatment of different cancer forms, starting from the pioneering works on platinum derivatives, have fostered an increasingly growing interest in their properties and biomedical applicatio...

This review provides a synopsis of the published literature over the past two years on the heme-binding protein hemopexin (HPX), with some background information on the biochemistry of the HPX system. One focus is on the mechanisms of heme-driven pat...

The developing brain is extremely sensitive to many chemicals. Exposure to neurotoxicants during development has been implicated in various neuropsychiatric and neurological disorders, including autism spectrum disorders and schizophrenia. Various sc...

The development of monoclonal antibodies has dramatically changed the outcome of patients with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL), the most common hematological malignancy. However, despite the satisfying results of monoclonal antibody treatment, onl...

Background: Tamoxifen (TAM) is an estrogen-receptor antagonist, widely used in the adjuvant treatment of early stage estrogen-sensitive breast cancer. Several studies have revealed new biological targets of TAM that mediate the estrogen receptor inde...

Successful daylight photodynamic therapy (DPDT) relies on the interaction of light, photosensitisers and oxygen. Therefore, the ‘dose’ of light that a patient receives during treatment is a clinically relevant quantity, with a minimum dos...