Current Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 7, Issue 4, 2000

Different chemical structures have been found to possess different anti-inflammatory activities. Inflammation is a normal and essential response to any noxious stimulus which threatens the host and may vary from a localized response to a more generalized one. In view of the complexity and multitude of biochemical factors involved in inflammatory events, few general correlations of chemical structures and physicochemical Read More

Theoretical calculations reveal that oligosaccharides are second to no other class of biochemical oligomery in terms of coding capacity. As integral part of cellular glycoconjugates they can serve as recognitive units for receptors (lectins). Having first been detected in plants, lectins are present ubiquitously. Remarkably for this field, they serve as bacterial and viral adhesins. Following a description of these branches of lectinology Read More

Enaminones, enamines of β-dicarbonyl compounds, have been know for many years. In our initial account (Current Med. Chem. 1994, 1, 159-175), we reported on the anticonvulsant activity of a series of enaminones, notably methyl 4-[(p-chlorophenyl)amino]-6-methyl- 2-oxo-cyclohex-3-en-1-oate, 9a (R=CH 3 , R 1 =4-Cl), which, in animal tests, compared favorably to phenytoin and carbamazepine. Since that time, further res Read More

AbstractPeptidomimetic RGD (Arg-Gly-Asp) analogs, which bind to glycoprotein (GP) IIb/IIIa on the surface of activated platelets, have been shown to inhibit platelet aggregation. Consequently, such RGD analogs can be used for the treatment of unstable angina pectoris and myocardial infarction. However, the low oral bioavailability for this class of compounds has been hindering their clinical development. Although man Read More

Recently, western countries have recorded a decrease in the death rate imputed to AIDS. This success has been largely attributed to the presence on the market of chemotherapies that inhibit the infectivity of the predominant causative agent, the HIV-1 virus, by targeting essential viral enzymes. One of these is the protease (HIV-1 PR) whose activity is a prerequisite for viral replication. Two main sites have been identifie Read More

Gossypol, a disesquiterpene from cottonseed, exhibits multiple biological properties, including male antifertility activity and anticancer activity. Gossypol also inhibits the growth of numerous parasitic organisms and shows antiviral activity against a number of enveloped viruses, including the AIDS virus. Derivatives of gossypol, in which the aldehyde functional groups that contribute to toxicity have been modified, retain or eve Read More