Current Drug Targets - Volume 13, Issue 11, 2012

Bacterial resistance to antibiotics is now a serious problem, with traditional classes of antibiotics having gradually become ineffective. New drugs are therefore needed to target and inhibit novel pathways that affect the growth of bacteria. An important feature in the survival of bacteria is that they coordinate their efforts together as a colony via secreted auto-inducing molecules. Competence stimulating peptides (CSPs) are a Read More

To initiate the innate immune response, Toll-like receptors (TLRs) associate with cytoplasmic adaptor proteins through TIR (Toll/interleukin-1 receptor) domain interactions. The four principal signaling adaptor proteins include MyD88, MAL, TRIF and TRAM, and the fifth protein SARM, involved in negative regulation of TLR pathways, is usually considered a part of the TIR domain-containing adaptor protein group. Other Read More

Biofilms formed by pathogenic bacteria present a serious threat to human health as the efficacy of standard antibiotic therapeutic regimens is compromised by reduced microbial susceptibility within the biofilm environment. The discovery of improved therapies for biofilm elimination requires an understanding of biofilm formation and dispersal, and the development of assays to specifically analyze these dynamic proc Read More

Urinary tract infection (UTI) is among the most common infectious diseases of humans and is the most common nosocomial infection in the developed world. They cause significant morbidity and mortality, with approximately 150 million cases globally per year. It is estimated that 40-50% of women and 5% of men will develop a UTI in their lifetime, and UTI accounts for more than 1 million hospitalizations and $1.6 billion in Read More

The rapid emergence of multidrug-resistant bacteria over the last two decades has catalyzed a shift away from traditional antibiotic development strategies and encouraged the search for unconventional drug targets. Prokaryotic substrate- binding proteins (SBPs), together with their cognate ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters, facilitate the unidirectional, transbilayer movement of specific extracytosolic cargoes against a Read More

The treatment of viral infections has relied on pre-emptive vaccination or use of a limited range of anti-viral drugs. However, the majority of viruses have no available drugs and treatment is merely supportive. RNA interference (RNAi) offers the ability to directly and rapidly treat virus infections via the targeting of viral genes. Indeed, clinical trials have already been undertaken with promising results. Here we review the current s Read More

The bacterial capsule is a recognized virulence factor in pathogenic bacteria. It likely works as an antiphagocytic barrier by minimizing complement deposition on the bacterial surface. With the continual rise of bacterial pathogens resistant to multiple antibiotics, there is an increasing need for novel drugs. In the Wzy-dependent pathway, the biosynthesis of capsular polysaccharide (CPS) is regulated by a phosphoregulatory syst Read More

Redox homeostasis is crucial for the cellular viability and normal function which balance is maintained by two major cellular antioxidant systems, including glutathione system and thioredoxin system. Thioredoxin system, including thioredoxin (Trx), thioredoxin reductase (TrxR) and NADPH, exhibits a wide range of functions such as regulation of redox state and cell apoptosis. Particularly, Trx functions as a protein disulfide re Read More

Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) at human chromosome 18q, which includes the gene Deleted in Colorectal Cancer (DCC), has been linked to colorectal and many other human cancers. DCC encodes the receptor for the axon guidance molecule Netrin (Net) and functions during neural development in a variety of organisms. However, since its discovery in the 1990s, the status of DCC as a tumor suppressor has been debated, primaril Read More

For over 30 years, empirical studies have demonstrated expression of chemically authentic morphine by diverse animal tissues and organs systems. De novo biosynthesis of endogenous morphine by animal cells displays striking similarities to the multi-enzyme mediated biosynthetic pathway previously characterized in great biochemical and molecular detail in opium poppy (Papaver somniferum). The committed enzy Read More

Lipopolysaccharides (LPSs), which constitute the lipid portion of the outer leaflet of Gram-negative bacteria, are essential for growth, and are responsible for a variety of biological effects associated with Gram-negative sepsis. LPSs are amphiphilic molecules comprising three regions: lipid A, the core region, and a polysaccharide portion; the lipid A was proven to represent the toxic principle of endotoxic active lipopolysacch Read More