Current Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 22, Issue 3, 2015

Catestatin (CST), the Chromogranin A (CgA)-derived cationic and hydrophobic peptide, firstly recognized as an endogenous inhibitor of catecholamine secretion, functions as a physiological brake of the adreno-sympathetic-chromaffin system. Its wide spectrum of activities includes relevant multilevel cardiovascular and antihypertensive influences. At central systemic level, CST seems to modulate the autonomic car Read More

Hypertension is the most common cardiovascular disease and remains the most prevalent risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and a major cause of death worldwide. Despite the large number of antihypertensive drugs available, in the majority of patients blood pressure still remains not optimally controlled and persists at high risk of cardiovascular complications. The limitations of current therapies have stimulated the re Read More

Post-stroke depression is a common neuropsychiatric affective disorder that may develop after a stroke event. In addition to abnormalities in the biogenic amine neurotransmitters and cytokine expression induced by stroke we will focus on the role of oxidative stress and hypothesize that polyphenols may be useful as therapeutics targets for the treatment of post-stroke depression. In this paper, we discuss the hypothesis t Read More

Nature provides us with an enormous diversity of chemical structures which is an inspiration to chemists and pharmacologists seeking new drug candidates. Circular peptides which have been identified in bacteria, fungi, plants and some mammals but not in humans display exceptional stability and potent bioactivities. They play important roles as defense molecules for their host organisms, providing protection against Read More

Epigenetic research has recently become one of the hotspots in the field of bioscience and drug design. DNA methylation and histone methylation serve a critical function in influencing gene expression and genome function. The inhibition of DNA and histone methyltransferases (DNMTs and HMTs) is a promising approach for the therapeutic treatment of numerous diseases, including cancer. This work reviews the recent achi Read More

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a complex and progressive neurodegenerative disorder. The available therapy is limited to the symptomatic treatment and its efficacy remains unsatisfactory. In view of the prevalence and expected increase in the incidence of AD, the development of an effective therapy is crucial for public health. Due to the multifactorial aetiology of this disease, the multi-target-directed ligand (MTDL) approach i Read More