Current Pharmaceutical Design - Volume 26, Issue 4, 2020

Melanoma is the deadliest type of skin cancers, accounting for more than 80% of skin cancer mortality. Although melanoma was known very early in the history of medicine, treatment for this disease had remained largely the same until very recently. Previous treatment options, including removal surgery and systemic chemotherapy, offered little benefit in extending the survival of melanoma patients. However, the last de Read More

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) accounts for about 80-90% of all liver cancers and is found to be the third most common cause of cancer mortality in the Asia-Pacific region. Risk factors include hepatitis B and C virus, cirrhosis, aflatoxin-contaminated food, alcohol, and diabetes. Surgically removing the tumor tissue seems effective but a high chance of recurrence has led to an urgent need to develop novel molecules for th Read More

Cancer cell biology takes advantage of identifying diverse cellular signaling pathways that are disrupted in cancer. Signaling pathways are an important means of communication from the exterior of cell to intracellular mediators, as well as intracellular interactions that govern diverse cellular processes. Oncogenic mutations or abnormal expression of signaling components disrupt the regulatory networks that govern c Read More

Interferons are secreted cytokines with potent antiviral, antitumor and immunomodulatory functions. As the first line of defense against viruses, this pathway restricts virus infection and spread. On the contrary, viruses have evolved ingenious strategies to evade host immune responses including the interferon pathway. Multiple families of viruses, in particular, DNA viruses, encode microRNA (miR) that are small, non-prot Read More

Background: The resistance of cancer cells to different therapies is one of the major stumbling blocks for successful cancer treatment. Various natural and pharmaceuticals drugs are unable to control drug-resistance cancer cell's growth. Also, chemotherapy and radiotherapy have several side effects and cannot apply to the patient in excess. In this context, chemosensitization to the therapy-resistant cells by non-toxic phyt Read More

Substance-use disorder represents a frequently hidden non-communicable chronic disease. Patients with intravenous drug addiction are at high risk of direct exposure to a variety of viral infections and are considered to be the largest subpopulation infected with the hepatitis C virus. Ribavirin is a synthetic nucleoside analog that has been used as an integral component of hepatitis C therapy. However, ribavirin medication is quite o Read More

Mitochondria are the crucial regulators for the major source of ATP for different cellular events. Due to damage episodes, mitochondria have been established for a plethora ofalarming signals of stress that lead to cellular deterioration, thereby causing programmed cell death. Defects in mitochondria play a key role in arbitrating pathophysiological machinery with recent evince delineating a constructive role in mitophagy Read More

The hyperactive RAS and inflammation are closely associated. The angiotensin-II/AT1R axis of the RAS has been explored extensively for its role in inflammation and a plethora of pathological conditions. Understanding the role of AT2R in inflammation is an emerging area of research. The AT2R is expressed on a variety of immune and non-immune cells, which upon activation triggers the release of a host of cytokines and has m Read More

G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are membrane-bound proteins, which are responsible for the detection of extracellular stimuli and the origination of intracellular responses. Both glucagon and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptors belong to G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) superfamily. Along with insulin, glucagon and GLP-1 are critical hormones for maintaining normal serum glucose within the human body. Read More

With respect to the total cure failure of current drugs used in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, alternative strategies are followed. Particularly, neuroprotection approaches are questioned. Metal chelation, antioxidant towards oxidative stress, modulation of the amyloidogenic pathway, MAO-B inhibition, and NMDA receptor antagonism is more or less typical examples. Some of the representative drug candidate Read More