Current Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 20, Issue 4, 2013

Human plasma and its fractions/derivatives are frequently used materials in biomedicine as it contains thousands and thousands of proteins representing the majority of human proteome. Several important methods were developed in the past for the fractionation of this important biological fluid and its use for medicinal purposes. One of the greatest challenges is the very large dynamic range of plasma proteins ra Read More

Membrane rafts are transient and unstable membrane microdomains that are enriched in sphingolipids, cholesterol, and specific proteins. They are involved in intracellular trafficking, signal transduction, pathogen entry, and attachment of various ligands. Increasing experimental evidence on the crucial biological roles of membrane rafts under normal and pathological conditions require new techniques for their structural and func Read More

Due to the persistent lack of suitable vaccines, chemotherapy remains the only option for the treatment of patients infected by protozoan parasites. However, most available antiparasitic drugs have serious disadvantages, ranging from high cost and poor compliance to high toxicity and rapid induction of resistance. In recent decades basic research laboratories identified a considerable number of promising new molecul Read More

The aim of this minireview is to recapitulate the evidence in the literature supporting a role for the aldehyde dehydrogenases (ALDH1, ALDH2 and ALDH3) in controlling the levels of 3 endogenous apoptogenic aldehydes: methional, malondialdehyde (MDA) and 4-hydroxynonenal (HNE). All 3 aldehydes are formed during the metabolism of cellular constituents. Methional is derived from the oxidative decarboxylation of 4-meth Read More

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) translationally repressing their target messenger RNAs due to their gene-regulatory functions play an important but not unexpected role in a tumour development. More surprising are the findings that levels of various miRNAs are well correlated with presence of specific tumours and formation of metastases. Moreover, these small regulatory molecules play a role in the resistance of cancer cells t Read More

Sweat is an alternative biological matrix useful to detect drugs of abuse intake. It is produced by eccrine and apocrine glands originating in the skin dermis and terminating in secretory canals that flow into the skin surface and hair follicles. Since many years it has been demonstrated that endogenous and exogenous chemicals are secreted in this biological sample hence its collection and analysis could show the past intake Read More

Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes), a Gram-positive anaerobic bacterium, is a commensal organism in human skin. Like human cells, the bacteria produce porphyrins, which exhibit fluorescence properties and make bacteria visible with a Wood's lamp. In this review, we compare the porphyrin biosynthesis in humans and P. acnes. Also, since P. acnes living on the surface of skin receive the same radiation exposure as humans, w Read More

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterised by the selective dysfunction and death of the upper and lower motor neurons. Median survival rates are between 3 and 5 years after diagnosis. Mutations in the gene encoding Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD1) have been linked to a subset of familial forms of ALS (fALS). Herein, we describe a fragment- based drug discovery (F Read More

A new cyclometallated iridium(III) complex with the 2,2'-biquinoline N-donor ligand has been synthesized and characterized. The interaction and affinity of the complex towards c-myc G-quadruplex and duplex DNA have been investigated using UV/Vis spectroscopy and gel mobility shift assay. These studies revealed that complex 1 binds to c-myc G-quadruplexes (Pu22 and Pu27) with high affinity but does not interact with dupl Read More

Background: The medicinally active plant Oroxylum indicum (OI) has drawn considerable research interest because of its many observed biological activities. Of particular interest is its antitumorigenic activity. The plant is a rich source of flavonoids and their glycosides. Recently flavonoids have been described as inhibitors of kexin-type proteases of superfamily Proprotein Convertase Subtilisin/ Kexins (PCSKs) which have been im Read More