Current Pharmaceutical Design - Volume 24, Issue 34, 2018

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a disease of systemic metabolic disorders caused by the decrease of secretion or sensitivity of insulin. In recent years, the study of insulin-related drug targets and the development of new drugs have become the popular topic of current medical research, and studies have shown that multiple signaling pathways are associated with diabetes treatment. At present, some new drugs Read More

Background: On a tide of big data, machine learning is coming to its day. Referring to huge amounts of epigenetic data coming from biological experiments and clinic, machine learning can help in detecting epigenetic features in genome, finding correlations between phenotypes and modifications in histone or genes, accelerating the screen of lead compounds targeting epigenetics diseases and many other aspects ar Read More

Background: Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification of unknown compound has raised high significance for both drug development and basic research. The ATC system is a multi-label classification system proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO), which categorizes drugs into classes according to their therapeutic effects and characteristics. This system comprises five levels and includes several class Read More

Knowledge of protein subcellular localization is vitally important for both basic research and drug development. With the avalanche of protein sequences emerging in the post-genomic age, it is highly desired to develop computational tools for timely and effectively identifying their subcellular localization based on the sequence information alone. Recently, a predictor called “pLoc-mPlant” was developed for identifyi Read More

Background: The relationship between protein structure and its bioactivity is one of the fundamental problems for protein engineering and pharmaceutical design. Method: A new method, called SPTD (Simulated Protein Thermal Detection), was proposed for studying and improving the thermal stability of enzymes. The method was based on the evidence observed by conducting the MD (Molecular Dynamics) simulation f Read More

Background: Closely related to causes of various diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, septic shock, and coeliac disease; tyrosine nitration is considered as one of the most important post-translational modification in proteins. Inside a cell, protein modifications occur accurately by the action of sophisticated cellular machinery. Specific enzymes present in endoplasmic reticulum accomplish this task. The identification of Read More

Background: Atorvastatin is the best-selling statin in the market. However, some patients have to reduce drug doses or discontinue atorvastatin therapy mainly due to adverse drug reactions (ADRs). Genetic factors play an important role in the occurrence of ADRs. Aim: This study aimed to investigate the association between SLCO1B1 polymorphisms (c.521T>C or c.388A>G) and atorvastatin safety and efficacy. Methods: W Read More

The studying of synaptic plasticity, the ability of synaptic connections between neurons to be weakened or strengthened and specifically long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD), is one of the most active areas of research in neuroscience. The process of synaptic connections playing a crucial role in improving cognitive processes is important to the processing of information in brain. In general, the dysfunction Read More

Anticancer treatment has become a research highlight in recent years. Despite several techniques have been developed and applied in the clinic, this area still meets great challenges in the construction of smart anticancer devices with accurate targeting, controlled release and microenvironment response properties. Most of the carbon-based materials are biocompatible, possessing abundant and tunable pore s Read More

Cardiovascular diseases, such as stroke and myocardial infarction (MI) remain the major cause of death and disability worldwide. However, the mortality of MI has declined dramatically over the past several decades because of advances in medicines (thrombolytic agents, antiplatelet drugs, beta blockers, and angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors) and approaches to restore tissue perfusion (percutaneous coronary interv Read More