Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 2, Issue 5, 2006

A series of 8 europium (III) tris-β-diketonates with common formula Eu(L)3Int, where L is acetyl acetone, thenoyltrifluoroacetone, benzoylacetone, dibenzoylmethane and Int is 1,10-phenanthroline or 2,2'-bipyridine, together with an analog without intercalating moiety (Eu(III)(acetyl acetone)3(H2O)2) were tested for cytotoxic activity in a panel of human tumor cell lines, using the MTT-dye reduction assay. The panel c Read More

Meloxicam was launched as a major new NSAID for the treatment of arthritis following extensive published research confirming its selectivity for COX-2. Several studies proposed possible explanations for its effectiveness and superior safety profile. The proposed theories included chemical structural relationships between meloxicam and other effective NSAIDs with low gastrointestinal toxic effects. However, other oxicams h Read More

Pancreatic cancer is one of the tumors with the highest mortality, poorly responding to available chemotherapeutic agents. The objective of this study was to study the anticancer effects of all-trans retinoid acid, a functional form of vitamin A, on pancreatic cancer cells. Human pancreatic cancer MiaPaCa-2 cells were treated with 1, 5, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 μM ATRA for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 d, respectively. Cell growth was deter Read More

The cerium (III) and neodymium (III) complexes with 3,3 -benzylidenebis[4-hydroxycoumarin] were synthesized and characterized by different analytical and spectral methods. The synthesis of these complexes is taken into consideration with cytotoxic screening and study of their antioxidant effect. Their cytotoxicity toward cancerous cell cultures correlated with the weakness of the coordinative bond between the Read More

Cannabinoids have been suggested as potential neuroprotective compounds in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Despite intense investigation, the detailed intracellular mechanism(s) involved in cannabinoids survival effect remains to be elucidated. The present study shows that CP55,940 (a CB1 and CB2 agonist) and JWH-015 (a CB2 agonist) protect and rescue peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) from (10μM) Aβ [25-35] and (50μM) H Read More

This study presents the first QSAR model for Galectin-3 glycomimetic inhibitors based on docked structures to the carbohydrate recognition domain (CRD). Quantitative numerical methods such as PLS (Partial Least Squares) and ANN (Artificial Neural Networks) have been used and compared on QSAR models to establish correlations between molecular properties and binding affinity values (Kd). Training and validation of QSAR pr Read More

HIV-1 RT is one of the most important antiviral targets in the treatment of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Several crystallographic structures are available for this enzyme, mostly with bound inhibitors. Despite their importance for structure based drug design towards new anti-HIV retrovirals, the X-ray structures of the unliganded enzyme could only be obtained incomplete, with a low resolution and until recentl Read More

Gene therapy is a promising therapeutic modality for the treatment of cystic fibrosis (CF). Despite a better understanding of the molecular organization of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene and mutations resulting in pathophysiological and phenotypic alterations, several forms of treatments including gene therapy have failed to yield clinical success. Major limitations for the delivery of Read More

The present study extends our previous work regarding new antifolates for Mycobacterium avium (MAC) dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR). The objectives of this study were to synthesize and test new derivatives in the general class of 2,4-diamino-5-methyl-5-deazapteridines in an effort to improve solubility and selectivity for the MAC DHFR, while maintaining lack of selectivity for the human DHFR. New 6-[2', 5'-dialkoxyphen Read More

The synthesis and evaluation as hypoxic selective cytotoxins of new derivatives of 2-amino or 2- hydroxyphenazine 5,10-dioxide are described. The compounds were developed as structural analogs of other bioreductive compounds and its in vitro cytotoxicities on V79 cells under hypoxic and aerobic conditions were determined. To gain insight into its mechanism of action electrochemical behavior, interaction with DNA experi Read More

Matrix Metalloproteinases (MMPs) are a class of zinc-dependent enzymes that degrade extracellular matrix components, particularly collagen. MMPs have been implicated in a diverse list of pathological processes, including cancer and cardiovascular disease. Recent efforts to bring MMP inhibitors to clinical trials, however, have proved disappointing. These failures are attributed, in part, to the non-selective nature of curre Read More

Calcium channel blockers are widely used in therapy for hypertension and angina pectoris, and among these blockers some 1,4-dihydropyridines (e.g. amlodipine, nitrendipine and nifedipine) have had widespread clinical use. In this work we investigated the vascular effects of four bis-1,4-dihydropyridines (bis-DHPs: 01-04), structurally related to nifedipine, in which a second 1,4-dihydropyridinic moiety was incorporated in t Read More

Highly selective Cav2.2 voltage-gated calcium channel (VGCC) inhibitors have emerged as a new class of therapeutics for the treatment of chronic and neuropathic pain. Cone snail venoms provided the first drug in class with FDA approval granted in 2005 to Prialt (ω-conotoxin MVIIA, Elan) for the treatment of neuropathic pain. Since this pioneering work, major efforts underway to develop alternative small molecule inhibitors o Read More