Current Drug Discovery Technologies - Volume 4, Issue 1, 2007

Lipases play fundamental roles in biological processes since hydrolysis of triacylglycerols and cholesteryl esters is a key event in energy homeostasis of animals. Perturbations in the metabolism and the cellular retention of lipids result in common diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, and atherosclerosis. The introduction of active site-directed chemical probes for enzymatic activity profiling in complex mixtur Read More

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 Nef is a regulatory protein critically involved in AIDS pathogenesis. We previously demonstrated that extracellular Nef is efficiently internalized by human primary monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs), thereby activating a number of transcription factors including STATs, MAPKs, IRF-3, and NF-κB. Such an activation state leads to the release of inflammatory factors whose paracrine Read More

Most oncogenes encode activators of transcription factors or transcription factors themselves. Transcription factors that are induced by growth stimuli are, in contrast to transcription factors that regulate house keeping genes, tightly regulated and only active, when a stimulus (e.g. cytokines or other growth factors) is given. Examples of such transcription factors are members of the jun, fos, myc, NFkB and STAT gene families Read More

An investigation of the controlled release profile of mono-layered formulations of the hormone melatonin in modified aqueous media is described. The tablets used were comprised of hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC K15M) and sodium alginate with melatonin (fully soluble in the dioctyl sulfosuccinate (DSS) containing simulated intestinal solution). Three different sets of tablets (diameters 7.5, 10.0 and 13.0 mm) were tes Read More

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a progressive disease characterized by insulin deficiency and insulin resistance or both. The fasting and post-prandial blood glucose is elevated, exposing the patient to acute and chronic complications (micro- and macro-vascular) leading to blindness, kidney failure, heart disease, stroke and amputations. Improving glycemic control has been demonstrated to lower the risk of these complications. Owi Read More

The availability of complete genome sequences and the wealth of large-scale biological datasets provide an unprecedented opportunity to elucidate the genetic basis of human diseases. Therapeutically relevant targets should be both ‘druggable’ and ‘disease modifying’. In this review we examine the application of computational biology towards the exploration of druggability, targetability and evolutionary conservation Read More

Except for few cases, chemotherapeutic toxicity is in general influenced by multiple genetic factors and nongenetic factors including age, sex and drug-drug interactions. The manifestations of adverse drug reactions differ between men and women. In particular, women experience greater toxicity from certain chemotherapeutic drugs than men. Sexrelated factors are likely to play an increasing role in drug development and Read More