Current Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 27, Issue 12, 2020

Background: Central Nervous System (CNS) tumors have a poor survival prognosis due to their invasive and heterogeneous nature, in addition to the resistance to multiple treatments. Objective: In this paper, the main aspects of brain tumor biology and pathogenesis are reviewed both for primary tumors of the brain, (i.e., gliomas) and for metastasis from other malignant tumors, namely lung cancer, breast cancer and mal Read More

Background: Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) are by-products of normal cellular metabolic processes, such as mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation. While low levels of ROS are important signalling molecules, high levels of ROS can damage proteins, lipids and DNA. Indeed, oxidative DNA damage is the most frequent type of damage in the mammalian genome and is linked to human pathologies such as can Read More

The emergence of multidrug-resistant bacteria has become an urgent issue in modern medicine which requires novel strategies to develop antibiotics. Recent studies have supported the hypothesis that antibiotic-induced bacterial cell death is mediated by Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS). The hypothesis also highlighted the importance of antioxidant systems, the defense mechanism which contributes to antibiotic resistanc Read More

Antibiotics play an irreplaceable role in the prevention and treatment of bacterial infection diseases. However, because of the improper use of antibiotics, bacterial resistance emerges as a major challenge of public health all over the world. The small thiol molecules such as glutathione can directly react and conjugate with some antibiotics, which thus contribute to drug susceptibility and resistance. Recently, accumulating ev Read More

Chronic Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs), mostly represented by cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, chronic pulmonary diseases, cancers, and several chronic pathologies, are one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality, and are mainly related to the occurrence of metabolic risk factors. Anthocyanins (ACNs) possess a wide spectrum of biological activities, such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, cardioprotective a Read More

Plants have always been an important source of medicines for humans, and licorice is a very significant herb in the development of humans. As a traditional herb, it is widely cultivated in China, Japan, Russia, Spain and India. With the development of organic chemistry and biochemistry, various chemical ingredients extracted from licorice have been studied and identified. Among them, many chemical components were consider Read More

Introduction: Similarly to the μ opioid receptor, kappa opioid receptor (KOR), is present either in the central nervous system or in peripheral tissues. In the last years, several molecules, able to interact with KOR, have been the focus of basic research for their therapeutic potential in the field of chronic pain, as well as in depression, autoimmune disorders and neurological diseases. Discussion: The role of KOR system and the con Read More

Parkinson's Disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative and debilitating disease that affects 1% of the elderly population. Patient’s motor disability results in extreme difficulty to deal with daily activities. Conventional treatment is limited to dopamine replacement therapy, which fails to delay disease’s progression and is often associated with a number of adverse reactions. Recent progress in understanding the mechanisms involved in Read More