Current Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 21, Issue 17, 2014

The use of the cannabis plant for various medical indications by cancer patients has been rising significantly in the past few years in several European countries, the US and Israel. The increase in use comes from public demand for the most part, and not due to a scientific basis. Cannabis chemistry is complex, and the isolation and extraction of the active ingredient remain difficult. The active agent in cannabis is unique a Read More

Atherosclerosis (AS), a major pathologic consequence of obesity, is the main etiological factor of cardiovascular disease (CVD), which is the most common cause of death in the western world. A systemic chronic low grade immune- mediated inflammation (scLGI) is substantially implicated in AS and its consequences. In particular, proinflammatory cytokines play a major role, with Th1-type cytokine interferon-γ (IFN-γ) being a Read More

The extensively investigated serine/threonine kinase, B-RAF, is a member of the RAS/RAF/MEK/ERK pathway. It plays important role in the regulation of cell growth, differentiation and survival. The mutation of B-RAF occurs frequently in melanomas and colon tumors; therefore, it is considered as an outstanding therapeutic target. In recent years a great number of B-RAF inhibitors have been reported and this number is expected t Read More

Reverse transcription of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is a crucial step in the life cycle initiated by the viral-coded reverse transcriptase (RT), functioning as RNA- and DNA-dependent DNA polymerase (RDDP and DDDP) and the ribonuclease H (RNase H). The RNase H functions to degrade the RNA strand of the RNA:DNA heteroduplex, which makes it an attractive target for rational anti-HIV-1 drug desig Read More

RNA interference (RNAi) is a mechanism that utilizes small RNA molecules to silence gene expression after the gene has been transcribed. To understand the mechanisms of small RNA biogenesis, target nucleic acid recognition and cleavage, and how they are influenced by other regulators, one needs to know the structures and dynamics of the proteins or/and nucleic acids in these processes. Molecular dynamics Read More

The HIV-1 envelope protein glycoprotein 41 (gp41) is crucial in the HIV-1 infection process, therefore gp41 has emerged as an attractive target for drug design against AIDS. During the past few decades, tremendous efforts have been made on developing inhibitors that can prevent the HIV-1 entry process via suppressing functional gp41. In this review, the development of HIV-1 fusion inhibitors targeting gp41 including peptide Read More

HIV protease plays a crucial role in the viral life cycle. It can cleave a series of heptamers in the viral Gag and GagPol precursor proteins to generate mature infectious virus particles. Successful inhibition of the protease will prevent this maturation step and hence block the spreading of HIV. However, the rapid emergence of drug resistance makes it urgent to develop new HIV protease inhibitors to combat the global dise Read More

Current treatment modalities for critical limb ischemia (CLI) are of limited benefit; therefore, advances in therapeutic vasculogenesis may open an important new avenue for the treatment of CLI. This study examines the therapeutic potential of the DPP-4 inhibitor MK-0626 as a regulator of vasculogenesis in vivo. MK-0626 was administered daily to C57CL/B6 mice and eGFP-labeled bone marrow-transplanted ICR mice that ha Read More