Current Computer - Aided Drug Design - Volume 7, Issue 4, 2011

In our days, there has been an explosion on the use of Quantitative Structure-Property Relationships (QSPR) models for any kind of bio-systems in principle. We see QSPR model as a function that predict the properties of the system (drug, protein, RNA, proteome, diseasome) using parameters that numerically describe the structure of the system. In particular Topological Indices (TIs) are numerical parameters that quantify the Read More

Taking into consideration the high importance of the drug target 5-α-reductase (5αR) in prostate cancer in this work we are going first to review previous works and discuss works related to the computer aided drug design of 5αR inhibitors. We report new results in the in silico screening of natural 5αR inhibitors. Traditionally, drugs were discovered by testing compounds synthesized in time consuming multi-step processes a Read More

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is the responsible causal agent of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in humans in which the immune system begins to fail, allowing the entry of opportunistic infections. HIV infection in humans is considered pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). HIV needs to use a protein as a co-receptor to enter its target cells. Several chemokine receptors can in pri Read More

DNA polymerases are essential enzymes for DNA replication, repair and recombination. The high number of possible candidates creates the necessity of Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship models in order to guide the DNA polymerase inhibitors. In this work, we revised different computational studies for a very large and heterogeneous series of DNA polymerase inhibitors. First, we reviewed QSAR methods with di Read More

Recently WHO and NREVSS collaborating laboratories located in all 50 states, and Washington D.C reported that out of 3,588 specimens,164 were found positive for influenza type (i.e. 4.6%) and from these 164 specimens 162 (i.e. 98.8 %) were of influenza A H1N1 subtype. Comparative study of the past and current reports gives a general idea that the influenza activity deserves high attention from public health authorities in t Read More

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is highly complex. While several pathologies characterize this disease, amyloid plaques, composed of the β-amyloid peptide, are hallmark neuropathological lesions in Alzheimer's disease brain. Indeed, a wealth of evidence suggests that β-amyloid is central to the pathophysiology of AD and is likely to play an early role in this intractable neurodegenerative disorder. The BACE-1 enzyme is essential f Read More

In this work, two alkaloids namely (+)-buxabenzamidienine (1) and (+)-buxamidine (2) were isolated from Buxus sempervirens, using bioassay-guided fractionation and isolation method. Their acetyl- (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) inhibitory activities were studied and the compounds were found to be quite selective inhibitors of AChE. IC50 values of compound 1 for electric eel AChE and horse BChE were 0 Read More

Collagen is the most abundant protein in the whole human body and its instability is involved in many important diseases, such as Osteogenesis imperfecta, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, and collagenopathy. The stability of the collagen triple helix is strictly related to its amino acid sequence, especially the main Gly-X-Y motif. Many groups have used computational methods to investigate collagen's structure and the relationship Read More

Pesticides are chemicals with a great impact in the economy of any country. They are employed for the eradication of pests. Insects constitute one of these pests which are extremely difficult to control. With the passage of the time, insects have become resistant to pesticides, causing huge crop losses and diseases in humans. For this reason, there is an increasing need for the design of more potent insecticides. The present revie Read More

Complex Networks are useful in solving problems in drug research and industry, developing mathematical representations of different systems. These systems move in a wide range from relatively simple graph representations of drug molecular structures to large systems. We can cite for instance, drug-target protein interaction networks, drug policy legislation networks, or drug treatment in large geographical disease spr Read More

We consider the deterministic model of interaction between the immune system and tumor cells including a memory function that reflects the influence of the past states, to simulate the time needed by the latter to develop a chemical and cell mediated response to the presence of the tumor. The memory function is called delay kernel. The results are compared with those from other papers, concluding that the memor Read More