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Advancing Drug Discovery for Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs)

A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Medicinal Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 July 2025 | Viewed by 924

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical, and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, Viale Ferdinando Stagno d’Alcontres 31, 98166 Messina, Italy
Interests: peptide-based inhibitors; peptidomimetics; bioactive inhibitors; cysteine proteases; neurotensin; radiopharmaceutical; pain management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor Assistant
Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences (CHIBIOFARAM), University of Messina, Viale F. Stagno d'Alcontres 31, 98166 Messina, Italy
Interests: biopolymers; drug delivery system; heterocyclic/peptidic compounds; biological activity of metal complexes; drug design
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) encompass a diverse group of conditions primarily caused by viruses, bacteria, protozoa, or helminths. The WHO has listed 25 diseases (https://www.who.int/health-topics/neglected-tropical-diseases#tab=tab_1) that disproportionately affect the developing world with a significant impact in terms of quality of life and social and economic growth.

The extensive efforts of the World Health Organization (WHO), the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi), and charitable foundations have resulted in a significant reduction in the spread of NTDs. Despite this, several aspects, such as access to remote regions, drug resistance, environmental changes, and conflicts in the countries involved, risk undermining the positive results achieved. In light of this, strategies aimed to limit the negative impact of NTDs should be implemented.

Therefore, this Special issue seeks to collect research articles and reviews regarding the control, elimination, and eradication of NTDs. Structure–activity relationship (SAR) studies providing novel bioactive molecules for the prevention and treatment of NTDs will be taken into account. The identification of new building blocks, warheads, and pharmacophores, as well as novel approaches useful for reducing the presence of vectors, providing new diagnostic tools and technology, and optimizing issues of druggability, are welcome.

Dr. Santo Previti
Dr. Nicola Micale
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 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

  • antimicrobial agents
  • structure- and ligand-based drug design
  • poverty-related diseases
  • challenges and opportunities
  • global health

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

17 pages, 3450 KiB  
Article
In Silico Evaluation of Potential Hit Molecules Against Multiple Serotypes of Dengue Virus Envelope Glycoprotein
by Aadhil Haq, Samavath Mallawarachchi, Aiden Anderson, Leily Khaleghi, Lasan Manujitha and Sandun Fernando
Molecules 2025, 30(6), 1268; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules30061268 - 12 Mar 2025
Viewed by 639
Abstract
Dengue Fever, a widespread mosquito-borne disease caused by the dengue virus (DENV), poses a major health threat in tropical and subtropical regions worldwide, resulting in millions of infections yearly. Severe cases of dengue fever have a mortality rate of around fifteen percent. Currently, [...] Read more.
Dengue Fever, a widespread mosquito-borne disease caused by the dengue virus (DENV), poses a major health threat in tropical and subtropical regions worldwide, resulting in millions of infections yearly. Severe cases of dengue fever have a mortality rate of around fifteen percent. Currently, there are no antiviral treatments for this disease and the only FDA-approved vaccine has been known to have adverse effects, especially in children. Thus, there is an urgent need for new therapeutics for Dengue fever. The largest issue with developing an antiviral treatment is that DENV has four serotypes that each differ slightly enough to pose problems with one compound inhibiting all four. This study addresses that challenge to some extent by focusing on in silico screening of potential hits targeting the envelope glycoprotein, which is relatively conserved across these four serotypes. Using pharmacophore screening and in silico evaluation of ligands, we identified compounds which could potentially have high affinity to the envelope glycoprotein for two of the four DENV serotypes. These in silico results were validated experimentally using bio-layer interferometry. These findings lay a foundation for in vitro analysis and hit-to-lead studies, advancing the development of antivirals that can inhibit multiple serotypes of the dengue virus. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advancing Drug Discovery for Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs))
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