Current Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 25, Issue 1, 2018

14-3-3 is a class of proteins able to interact with a multitude of targets by establishing protein-protein interactions (PPIs). They are usually found in all eukaryotes with a conserved secondary structure and high sequence homology among species. 14-3-3 proteins are involved in many physiological and pathological cellular processes either by triggering or interfering with the activity of specific protein partners. In the las Read More

Background: The understanding of the bioinorganic and coordination chemistry of metalloproteins containing unusual poly-Xaa sequences, in which a single amino acid is repeated consecutively, is crucial for describing their metal binding-structure-function relationship, and therefore also crucial for understanding their medicinal potential. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first systematic review on metal complexes with pol Read More

Depleted uranium (DU) is generally considered an emerging pollutant, first extensively introduced into environment in the early nineties in Iraq, during the military operation called “Desert Storm”. DU has been hypothesized to represent a hazardous element both for soldiers exposed as well as for the inhabitants of the polluted areas in the war zones. In this review, the possible consequences on human health of DU released i Read More

Tungsten or wolfram was regarded for many years as an enemy within the tin smelting and mining industry, because it conferred impurity or dirtiness in tin mining. However, later it was considered an amazing metal for its strength and flexibility, together with its diamond like hardness and its melting point which is the highest of any metal. It was first believed to be relatively inert and an only slightly toxic metal. Since early 2 Read More

Background: Research into gold-based drugs for a range of human diseases has seen a revival in recent years. This article reviews the most important applications of gold products in different fields of human pathology. Au(I) and Au(III) compounds have been re-introduced in clinical practice for targeting the cellular components involved in the onset and progression of viral and parasitic diseases, rheumatoid arthritis Read More

Background: Iron is an essential micronutrient for bacteria, fungi, and humans; as such, each has evolved specialized iron uptake systems to acquire iron from the extracellular environment. Objective: To describe complex ‘tug of war’ for iron that has evolved between human hosts and pathogenic microorganisms in the battle for this vital nutrient. Methods: A review of current literature was performed, to assess current Read More

Hydroxypyridinones (HPs) are a family of N-heterocyclic metal chelators, which have been an attractive target in the development of a variety of new pharmaceutical drugs, due to their high metal chelating efficacy/specificity and easy derivatization to tune the desired biological properties. In fact, along the last decades, hydroxypyridinone derivatives, but mostly 3-hydroxy-4-pyridinone (3,4-HP), have been intensively used in dr Read More

Background: Lanthanum (La) is considered to be a non-essential element. La has been used for several decades in China to improve yield in plant production and has also been shown to have significant performance enhancing effects in feeding trials on animal husbandry. The estimated dietary intake of La in humans is below 150 μg, which is lower than 10% of the estimated limit of safe and acceptable daily intake. Metho Read More