Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 2, Issue 1, 2006

Mitochondria fulfill a wide array of functions dedicated to the energetic metabolism as well as the control of cell death. These functions imply that mitochondria can be activated by a variety of signals and can integrate them to trigger a process called mitochondrial membrane permeabilization (MMP), which induces the ultimate events of apoptosis. MMP consists in a sudden increase in the permeability of mitochondrial membra Read More

Nucleic acid medicines such as antisense DNA, antisense peptide nucleic acid (PNA), ribozyme, and decoy are expected to be novel therapeutic strategy for sever diseases which are resistant to present therapy. We have developed antisense DNA, antisense PNA and ribozyme targeting platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) A-chain and transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) for arterial proliferative diseases such as cor Read More

Deprotection of p-nitrobenzyl esters and valyl carbamates in carbapenem CL 192,276 produced the active compound OCA-983 in excellent yields. Straight chain alkanols such as 1-butanol, 1-pentanol and 1-hexanol in water at certain ratios were effective solvent systems. Alkyl acetates in water also resulted in simultaneous deprotection of PNB and PNZ side-chains albeit at slower rates. The deprotected carbapenem was is Read More

The lysosomal aspartyl protease, cathepsin D, has been suggested to play a role in the metastatic potential of several types of cancer. Cathepsin D is secreted by malignant cells, and is believed to be involved in the breakdown of the extracellular matrix. High levels of active cathepsin D have been found in colon cancer, prostate cancer, uterine cancer and ovarian cancer. Also cathepsin D has recently been associated with the Read More

A new series of 8-halogen-4,4a,5,6-tetrahydrothieno[2,3-h]cinnolinone-N2-alkanoic acids was prepared and tested for aldose reductase (ALR2) inhibitory activities. These compounds showed significant inhibitory activity against bovine lens ALR2, with the best compound 2e showing an IC50 value of 31.4 μM. The presence of the C8-substituents here studied (Cl, Br) on the thienocinnolinone scaffold caused a decrease of the in Read More

Cisplatin is one of the most widely used antitumor drugs. However, as all the anticancer drugs currently used in clinic, cisplatin shows the phenomenon of drug resistance (intrinsic or acquired) against a wide variety of tumors. Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 is an enzyme involved in DNA repair and apoptotic cell death, which may be inhibited to increase cisplatin chemosensitivity of tumor cells so that cisplatin resista Read More

Seven series of various substituted aryl semicarbazones were synthesized and evaluated for anticonvulsant activity in the maximal electroshock seizure (MES) and subcutaneous pentylenetetrazole (scPTZ) induced seizure threshold tests. A comprehensive structure-activity relationship was derived comparing the substituents on the aryl ring and in the carbimino terminal. Generally the order of activity was 4-F > 2-Br = 3-Br Read More

Multidrug resistance (MDR) of cancer cells remains to be an important cause of chemotherapy failure. Search for the new MDR reversal agents is still an unceasing challenge for the scientists. In an attempt to find clinically useful modulators of MDR, a series of 19 N10-substituted-2-bromoacridones has been synthesized. Parent compound 1, prepared by the Ullmann condensation of o-chlorobenzoic acid and p-brom Read More

Arsenic trioxide appears to be effective in the treatment of pro-myelocytic leukaemia. The substituted phenylarsen(III)oxides are highly polar, they have a high tendency to undergo oxidation to As (V) and to form oligomers, to prevent this we protected the As-(OH)2 group as cyclic dithiaarsanes. To increase the compound's biological stability and passive diffusion we conjugated the compound of interest with lipoami Read More

In silico virtual screening for drug discovery has become a hot topic in medicinal chemistry research during the last 5 years, growing from a largely academic pursuit concerned principally with validating the methods used, to a major early-stage technique for lead discovery in the pharmaceutical industry. In this review we highlight a few recent successes in ligand docking associated with virtual screening, paying particular attentio Read More