Platinum(II) metal complexes as potential anti-Trypanosoma cruzi agents

In the search for new therapeutic tools against Chagas’ disease (American Trypanosomiasis) two series of new platinum(II) complexes with bioactive 5-nitrofuryl containing thiosemicarbazones as ligands were synthesized, characterized and in vitro evaluated. Most of the complexes showed IC₅₀ values in the μM range against two different strains of Trypanosoma cruzi, causative agent of the disease, being as active as the anti-trypanosomal drug Nifurtimox. In particular, the coordination of L3 (4-ethyl-1-(5-nitrofurfurylidene)thiosemicarbazide) to Pt(II) forming [Pt(L3)₂] lead to almost a five-fold activity increase in respect to the free ligand. Trying to get an insight into the trypanocidal mechanism of action of these compounds, DNA and redox metabolism (intra-parasite free radical production) were evaluated as potential parasite targets. Results suggest that the complexes could inhibit parasite growth through a dual mechanism of action involving production of toxic free radicals by bioreduction and DNA interaction.     

Novel bifunctional natriuretic peptides as potential therapeutics

Synthetic atrial natriuretic peptide (carperitide) and B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP; nesiritide) are used to treat congestive heart failure. However, despite beneficial cardiac unloading properties, reductions in renal perfusion pressures limit their clinical effectiveness. Recently, CD-NP, a chimeric peptide composed of C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP) fused to the C-terminal tail of Dendroaspis natriuretic peptide (DNP), was shown to be more glomerular filtration rate-enhancing than BNP in dogs. However, the molecular basis for the increased responsiveness was not determined. Here, we show that the DNP tail has a striking effect on CNP, converting it from a non-agonist to a partial agonist of natriuretic peptide receptor (NPR)-A while maintaining the ability to activate NPR-B. This effect is specific for human receptors because CD-NP was only a slightly better activator of rat NPR-A due to the promiscuous nature of CNP in this species. Interesting, the DNP tail alone had no effect on any NPR even though it is effective in vivo. To further increase the potency of CD-NP for NPR-A, we converted two different triplet sequences within the CNP ring to their corresponding residues in BNP. Both variants demonstrated increased affinity and full agonist activity for NPR-A, whereas one was as potent as any NPR-A activator known. In contrast to a previous report, we found that DNP binds the natriuretic peptide clearance receptor (NPR-C). However, none of the chimeric peptides bound NPR-C with significantly higher affinity than endogenous ligands. We suggest that bifunctional chimeric peptides represent a new generation of natriuretic peptide therapeutics.     

Natural and engineered ribonucleases as potential cancer therapeutics

By reason of their cytotoxicity, ribonucleases (RNases) are potential anti-tumor drugs. Particularly members from the RNase A and RNase T1 superfamilies have shown promising results. Among these enzymes, Onconase, an RNase from the Northern Leopard frog, is furthest along in clinical trials. A general model for the mechanism of the cytotoxic action of RNases includes the interaction of the enzyme with the cellular membrane, internalization, translocation to the cytosol, and degradation of ribonucleic acid. The interplay of these processes as well as the role of the thermodynamic and proteolytic stability, the catalytic activity, and the capability of the RNase to evade the intracellular RNase inhibitor has not yet been fully elucidated. This paper discusses the various approaches to exploit RNases as cytotoxic agents.     

Microtubule-stabilizing agents as potential therapeutics for neurodegenerative disease

Microtubules (MTs), cytoskeletal elements found in all mammalian cells, play a significant role in cell structure and in cell division. They are especially critical in the proper functioning of post-mitotic central nervous system neurons, where MTs serve as the structures on which key cellular constituents are trafficked in axonal projections. MTs are stabilized in axons by the MT-associated protein tau, and in several neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal lobar degeneration, and Parkinson’s disease, tau function appears to be compromised due to the protein dissociating from MTs and depositing into insoluble inclusions referred to as neurofibrillary tangles. This loss of tau function is believed to result in alterations of MT structure and function, resulting in aberrant axonal transport that likely contributes to the neurodegenerative process. There is also evidence of axonal transport deficiencies in other neurodegenerative diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Huntington’s disease, which may result, at least in part, from MT alterations. Accordingly, a possible therapeutic strategy for such neurodegenerative conditions is to treat with MT-stabilizing agents, such as those that have been used in the treatment of cancer. Here, we review evidence of axonal transport and MT deficiencies in a number of neurodegenerative diseases, and summarize the various classes of known MT-stabilizing agents. Finally, we highlight the growing evidence that small molecule MT-stabilizing agents provide benefit in animal models of neurodegenerative disease and discuss the desired features of such molecules for the treatment of these central nervous system disorders.     

2-Aminothiadiazole inhibitors of AKT1 as potential cancer therapeutics

A series of 2-aminothiadiazole of inhibitors of AKT1 is described. SAR relationships are discussed, along with selectivity for protein kinase A (PKA) and cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (CDK2). Moderate selectivity observed in several compounds for AKT1 versus PKA is rationalized by X-ray crystallographic analysis. Key compounds showed activity in cellular assays measuring phosphorylation of two AKT substrates, PRAS40 and FKHRL1. Compound 30 was advanced to a mouse liver PD assay, where it showed dose-dependent inhibition of AKT activity, as measured by the inhibition of phospho-PRAS40.     

Synthesis of novel chiral metal complexes derived from chiral thiosemicarbazide ligands as potential antioxidant agents

Two new chiral thiosemicarbazide ligands and their Cu (II), Ni (II), Pd (II), and Zn (II) complexes were synthesized and characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) (only for ligand), Fourier transform infrared (FT‐IR), ultraviolet visible (UV‐Vis), mass, and elemental analysis. The antioxidant activity of ligands and their metal complexes was examined. It was found that the antioxidant activity of metal complexes was better than their ligands. In addition, the antioxidant activity, as reflected by free radical scavenging, was evaluated. Besides, Pd (II) complexes exhibited better antioxidant activity than Ni (II), Cu (II), and Zn (II) complexes. Therefore, complexes (3a‐Pd and 3b‐Pd) can be used as an antioxidant agent or antioxidant test standard.     

Marine algae as a potential pharmaceutical source for anti-allergic therapeutics

The prevalence of allergic diseases such as asthma, atopic dermatitis, and allergic rhinitis has increased during the last two decades and contributed a great deal to morbidity and an appreciable mortality in the world. Until now, few novel efficacious drugs have been discovered to treat, control or even cure these diseases with a low adverse-effect profile. Meanwhile, glucocorticoids are still the mainstay for the treatment of allergic disease. Therefore, it is necessary to isolate novel anti-allergic agents from natural resources. Recently, marine algae have received much attention as they are a valuable source of chemically diverse bioactive compounds with numerous health benefit effects. This review focuses on anti-allergic agents derived from marine algae and presents an overview of their pharmaceutical potential in the treatment of allergic disorders.     

Chemical modulators of autophagy as biological probes and potential therapeutics

Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved mechanism for protein degradation that is critical for the maintenance of homeostasis in man. Autophagy has unexpected pleiotropic functions that favor survival of the cell, including nutrient supply under starvation, cleaning of the cellular interior, defense against infection and antigen presentation. Moreover, defective autophagy is associated with a diverse range of disease states, including neurodegeneration, cancer and Crohn's disease. Here we discuss the roles of mammalian autophagy in health and disease and highlight recent advances in pharmacological manipulation of autophagic pathways as a therapeutic strategy for a variety of pathological conditions.     

Engineering of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases mutants as potential therapeutics

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) play a central role in many biological processes such as development, morphogenesis and wound healing, but their unbalanced activities are implicated in numerous disease processes such as arthritis, cancer metastasis, atherosclerosis, nephritis and fibrosis. One of the key mechanisms to control MMP activities is inhibition by endogenous inhibitors called tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs). This review highlights the structures and inhibition mechanism of TIMPs, the biological activities of TIMPs, the unique properties of TIMP-3, and the altered specificity towards MMPs achieved by mutagenesis. A potential therapeutic use of TIMP variants is discussed.     

Anti-adhesive antibodies and peptides as potential therapeutics for Plasmodium falciparum malaria

The attachment of erythrocytes infected with Plasmodium falciparum to the microvessels of the brain leads to a pathological condition known as cerebral malaria. There are no effective therapeutic means for alleviating this. In this review, Kirkwood Land, Irwin Sherman, Jurg Gysin and Ian Crandall discuss the potential of anti-adhesive peptides and antibodies as a means of treating cerebral malaria. Adhesin proteins on the surface of the parasite-infected red blood cell as well as target cell ligand molecules are discussed in the context of anti-adhesion therapy.     

Retinoid analogs and polyphenols as potential therapeutics for age-related macular degeneration

Progressive retinal degeneration manifesting as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in the elderly affects millions of individuals worldwide. Among various blinding diseases, AMD is the leading cause of central vision impairment in developed countries. Poor understanding of AMD etiology hampers the development of therapeutics against this devastating ocular disease. Currently, daily intravitreal injections of anti-angiogenic drugs, preventing abnormal vessel growth are the only treatment option for wet AMD. However, for dry AMD associated with retinal atrophy, at present there is no cure available. Recent clinical research has demonstrated beneficial effects of plant-derived compounds for various eye disorders. Thus, the ongoing efforts toward discovering efficient treatments preventing or delaying AMD progression focus on implementing a healthy diet rich in vitamins, including vitamin A, E, and C, minerals and carotenoids, in particular lutein and zeaxanthin, to reduce the disease burden. In addition, studies in cell culture and animal models indicated therapeutic potential of dietary polyphenolic compounds present in fruits and vegetables. These natural compounds protect visual function and retinal morphology likely due to their anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Although understanding of the exact mechanism of these compounds’ positive effects requires further investigation, they provide non-invasive alternative to battle AMD-like condition. Additionally, studies carried in animal models mimicking AMD-like pathology, examining the pharmacological potential of particular retinoid analogs, demonstrated promising results for their use, and thus they should be considered as an option in developing therapies for AMD. In here, we summarize the most current knowledge regarding developments of therapeutic options to maintain ocular health and prevent vision loss associated with aging.Impact statementAge-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a devastating retinal degenerative disease. Epidemiological reports showed an expected increasing prevalence of AMD in the near future. The only one existing FDA-approved pharmacological treatment involves an anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy with serious disadvantages. This limitation emphasizes an alarming need to develop new therapeutic approaches to prevent and treat AMD. In this review, we summarize scientific data unraveling the therapeutic potential of the specific retinoid and natural compounds. The experimental results reported by us and other research groups demonstrated that retinoid analogs and compounds with natural product scaffolds could serve as lead compounds for the development of new therapeutic agents with potential to prevent or slow down the pathogenesis of AMD.     

A novel approach towards studying non-genotoxic enediynes as potential anticancer therapeutics

A novel uracil-containing enediyne was synthesized by the fusion at N(1) and N(3) of uracil with an 11-membered cyclic enediyne. Compound was found to be stable against cycloaromatization at 80 degreesC. Thus, it did not cause DNA-damage. Unlike other alkylated uracil derivatives 2--6, highly strained uracil-containing enediyne was reacted with methyl thioglycolate at 25 degreesC to produce uracil () and linear enediyne. This reactivity toward a sulfhydryl group may play a significant role in the mechanism by which compound directed its cytotoxicity toward tumor cell lines. Tumor cells were found to be more susceptible to enediyne than normal human embryonic lung cells. A combination of with adriamycin or 1-(beta-D-arabinofuranosyl)cytosine resulted in synergistic anticancer activity against murine L1210 and P388 leukemias, Sarcoma 180, and human CCRF--CEM lymphoblastic leukemia. After treatment of Molt-4 cells with uracil-containing enediyne, light microscope examination demonstrated the presence of cell shrinkage and nuclear segmentation. Treatment of cultured Molt-4 human leukemia cells with enediyne resulted in a time-dependent depletion of glutathione (GSH) whereas the exposure of the cells to the GSH precursor N-acetylcysteine (NAC) resulted in a substantial suppression of this effect. As such, involvement of GSH depletion in the process of apoptosis may explain the mechanism of action of non-genotoxic enediyne against malignant tumor cell lines.     

New trends for metal complexes with anticancer activity

Medicinal inorganic chemistry can exploit the unique properties of metal ions for the design of new drugs. This has, for instance, led to the clinical application of chemotherapeutic agents for cancer treatment, such as cisplatin. The use of cisplatin is, however, severely limited by its toxic side-effects. This has spurred chemists to employ different strategies in the development of new metal-based anticancer agents with different mechanisms of action. Recent trends in the field are discussed in this review. These include the more selective delivery and/or activation of cisplatin-related prodrugs and the discovery of new non-covalent interactions with the classical target, DNA. The use of the metal as scaffold rather than reactive centre and the departure from the cisplatin paradigm of activity towards a more targeted, cancer cell-specific approach, a major trend, are discussed as well. All this, together with the observation that some of the new drugs are organometallic complexes, illustrates that exciting times lie ahead for those interested in 'metals in medicine'.     

Vanadyl-biguanide complexes as potential synergistic insulin mimics

Vanadium has well-documented blood-glucose-lowering properties both in vitro and in vivo. The design of new oxovanadium(IV) coordination compounds, intended for use as insulin-enhancing agents in the treatment of diabetes mellitus, can potentially benefit from a synergistic approach, in which the whole complex has more than an additive effect from its component parts. Biguanides, most importantly metformin, are oral hypoglycemic agents used today to treat type 2 diabetes mellitus. In this study, biguanide, metformin, and phenformin, all biguanides, were coordinated to oxovanadium(IV) to form potential insulin-enhancing compounds. Highly colored, air-stable, bis(biguanidato)oxovanadium(IV), [VO(big)2], bis(N'N'-dimethylbiguanidato)oxovanadium(IV), [VO(metf)2], and bis(beta-phenethyl-biguanidato)oxovanadium(IV), [VO(phenf)2], were prepared. Solvation with dimethylsulfoxide occurred with VO(metf)2 to form a six-coordinate complex. Precursor ligands and oxovanadium(IV) coordination complexes were characterized by infrared spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, elemental analyses, magnetic susceptibility, and, where appropriate, 1H NMR spectroscopy. Biological testing with VO(metf)2, a representative compound, for insulin-enhancing potential included acute (72 h) administration, both by intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection and by oral gavage (p.o.) in streptozotocin (STZ)-diabetic rats. VO(metf)2 administration resulted in significant blood-glucose lowering at doses of 0.12 mmol kg-1 i.p. and 0.60 mmol kg-1 p.o. (previously established as ED50 doses for organically chelated oxovanadium(IV) complexes); however, no positive associative effects due to the presence of biguanide in the complex were apparent.     

Transition metal complexes with pyrazole derivatives as ligands

Degradation reactions of scorpionates were observed in the presence of transition metal salts MX₂ to give complexes of transition metal and pyrazole derivatives. Otherwise, pyrazolato complexes of transition metals and weakly coordinating anions such as nitrates have been synthesized from transition metal nitrates and 3-phenyl- and 4-phenyldiazo-pyrazole. A number of complexes with pyrazole derivatives as ligands, [Zn(3-tBupzH)₂Cl₂], [Fe₂(3-Phpz)₆Cl₄], [Cu(pzH)₄Br₂], [Ni(py)₂(pzH)₂Cl₂], [Li(THF)₄][Ti₂(μ-pz)₃Cl₄(NMe₂)₂], [Zn₂(μ-3-Phpz)₂(3-PhpzH)₂][(NO₃)₂], [M(3-PhpzH)₄(NO₃)₂] (M = Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd), [Zn(3-PhpzH)₂(NO₃)₂], [Zn(4-PhNNpzH)₂(NO₃)₂](H₂O), and [Cd(4-PhNNpzH)₂(NO₃)₂(H₂O)₂], have been crystallized and characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction.     

Nitrones as therapeutics

Nitrones have the general chemical formula X-CH=NO-Y. They were first used to trap free radicals in chemical systems and then subsequently in biochemical systems. More recently several nitrones, including alpha-phenyl-tert-butylnitrone (PBN), have been shown to have potent biological activity in many experimental animal models. Many diseases of aging, including stroke, cancer development, Parkinson disease, and Alzheimer disease, are known to have enhanced levels of free radicals and oxidative stress. Some derivatives of PBN are significantly more potent than PBN and have undergone extensive commercial development for stroke. Recent research has shown that PBN-related nitrones also have anti-cancer activity in several experimental cancer models and have potential as therapeutics in some cancers. Also, in recent observations nitrones have been shown to act synergistically in combination with antioxidants in the prevention of acute acoustic-noise-induced hearing loss. The mechanistic basis of the potent biological activity of PBN-related nitrones is not known. Even though PBN-related nitrones do decrease oxidative stress and oxidative damage, their potent biological anti-inflammatory activity and their ability to alter cellular signaling processes cannot readily be explained by conventional notions of free radical trapping biochemistry. This review is focused on our studies and others in which the use of selected nitrones as novel therapeutics has been evaluated in experimental models in the context of free radical biochemical and cellular processes considered important in pathologic conditions and age-related diseases.     

Botanical candidates from Saudi Arabian flora as potential therapeutics for Plasmodium infection

Malaria is a lethal parasitic disease affecting over two hundred million people worldwide and kills almost half a million people per year. Until now, there is no curative treatment for this disease that has a substantial morbidity. The available chemotherapeutic agents are unable to completely control the infection with the continuous appearance of drug resistance. Consequently, the search for new therapeutic agents with high safety profiles and low side effects is of paramount importance. Several natural products have been investigated and proven to have antimalarial effects either in vivo or in vitro. A large number of plants have been studied globally for their antimalarial activities. However, studies that have been conducted in this field in Saudi Arabia are not enough. This article presents global and local research on the need for novel natural antimalarial agents with a particular emphasis on studies involving plants from Saudi Arabian flora.     

骨髓间质干细胞修复受损心肌研究进展

骨髓间充质干细胞是一种多潜能干细胞。在体外培养时,多种诱导因素可使其分化为心肌细胞等。目前进行的动物实验和临床研究表明骨髓间充质干细胞具有促进血管增生以及改善心肌梗死后心脏功能的作用,为受损心肌的治疗提供了广阔前景。但是其修复受损心肌的机制仍具有很大争议。本文就以上内容进行综述。     

Mitochondrial diseases: Drosophila melanogaster as a model to evaluate potential therapeutics

While often presented as a single entity, mitochondrial diseases comprise a wide range of clinical, biochemical and genetic heterogeneous disorders. Among them, defects in the process of oxidative phosphorylation are the most prevalent. Despite intense research efforts, patients are still without effective treatment. An important part of the development of new therapeutics relies on predictive models of the pathology in order to assess their therapeutic potential. Since mitochondrial diseases are a heterogeneous group of progressive multisystemic disorders that can affect any organ at any time, the development of various in vivo models for the different diseases-associated genes defects will accelerate the search for effective therapeutics. Here, we review existing Drosophila melanogaster models for mitochondrial diseases, with a focus on alterations in oxidative phosphorylation, and discuss the potential of this powerful model organism in the process of drug target discovery.This article is part of a Directed Issue entitled: Energy Metabolism Disorders and Therapies.