Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 1, Issue 1, 2005

The field of medicinal chemistry has continued to expand rapidly, specially with the growing understanding of disease processes at the molecular level. This first issue of “Medicinal Chemistry” presents papers on recent advances in this field written by eminent experts. The articles on novel anti-malarials, anti-cancer agents, enzyme kinetics, sigma receptor binding SARS-cov genome sequences, apoptosis, lactoferrin interact Read More

Bruceantin (1), a classical quassinoid with the highest reported antimalarial activity among the quassinoids examined thus far, was selected as a natural product lead for the design of a series of A/B-ring analogs. A viable strategy for the synthesis of the series was developed. The functionalized A-ring and the C-15 ester moiety in bruceantin are incorporated in all designed compounds. The preliminary bioassay res Read More

The design, synthesis and DNA binding properties of a novel achiral and amino-containing secocyclopropylindoline analog (seco-amino-CI-TMI, 1) of the duocarmycins are described. Thermal induced DNA cleavage studies on pUC18 DNA revealed compound 1 to preferentially bind in the minor groove and to covalently react with ATrich sequences, particularly at the underlined adenine-N3 group of 5'-AAAAA(865)-3'. This sequen Read More

We demonstrate that a Bayesian approach (the use of prior knowledge) to the design of steady-state experiments can produce major gains quantifiable in terms of information, productivity and accuracy of each experiment. Developing the use of Bayesian utility functions, we have used a systematic method to identify the optimum experimental designs for a number of kinetic model data sets. This has enabled the identifi Read More

Three new trishomocubane analogues based on the 4-azahexacyclo[5.4.1.02,6.03,10.05,9.08,11] dodecane-3-ol skeleton have been synthesised and assessed for their affinities at both sigma-1 and sigma-2 receptors. The effect of various N-substitution on the polycyclic moiety was examined. All synthesised compounds displayed high affinity for sigma-1 receptors (9-10 nM) and good affinity for sigma-2 receptors (230-310 nM), Read More

It has been observed by conducting an extensive analysis of the two-dimensional cellular automata images of known SARS-CoV genome sequences that the V-shaped cross-lines only exist in some special locations, and hence can be used as a fingerprint to identify the SARS sequences. Such a discovery can be used to rapidly and reliably diagnose SARS coronavirus for both basic research in laboratories and practical application in clinics.

Evidence that apoptosis plays an important role in the pathophysiology of lung diseases has been accumulated. Apoptosis signaling is classically composed of two principle pathways. One is a direct pathway from death receptor ligation to caspase cascade activation and cell death. Death receptor ligation triggers recruitment of the precursor form of caspase-8 to a death-inducing complex, through the adaptor protein FAD Read More

Lactoferrin is a secreted protein related to transferrin. Lactoferrin indirectly protects host cells against foreign insults by killing bacteria, scavenging free iron, and binding to receptors required for viral invasion. However, lactoferrin is also proposed to act directly on cells as a transcription factor and tumor suppressor gene. In addition to full length lactoferrin, a truncated form, called delta lactoferrin, can also be produced by alte Read More

Tumour growth is characterised by the formation of a fine vessel network or neovasculature which nourishes tumour cells. Two kinds of novel anti-angiogenic therapies are based on the prevention of vessels growth and on the destruction of those vessels already formed. We report here on the design and construction of a novel immunotoxin formed with the non-toxic type II ribosome-inactivating protein ebulin l and the mouse Read More

This review describes the clinical status (based on available information) of experimental drugs that inhibit enzymes called proteases, or more precisely a sub-class of proteases called peptidases that catalyse the hydrolysis of polypeptide main chain amide bonds. These peptidases are classified by the key catalytic residue in the active site of the enzyme that effects hydrolysis, namely aspartic, serine, cysteine, metallo o Read More