Mini Reviews in Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 7, Issue 1, 2007

Obesity is recognized as a disease of epidemic proportions worldwide; as a consequence, a strong demand is now put on the development of novel effective therapies for this condition. The current multidimensional treatment of obesity includes lifestyle changes, behavioural and surgical approaches, as well as pharmacological options. The drugs approved for the clinical treatment of obesity are, however, quite few at the Read More

The currently available drugs for long-term treatment of obesity are sibutramine and orlistat. They have been shown to be able to induce significant weight loss, with important co-morbidity reduction, allowing the maintenance of reduced body weight for at least 1-2 years. Cardiostimulating and gastrointestinal adverse effects are however not negligible.

Food intake and energy homeostasis are controlled by peripheral humoral signals, afferent neuronal pathways to the brain and central signals, represented, in particular, by neuropeptides. This review reports the status of development of novel compounds targeting some hypothalamic neuropeptide systems which are currently viewed as potential targets to treat obesity.

Recent findings in animals and in humans have shown that cannabinoid type 1 receptor antagonists are suitable to become the most promising validated class of drugs to tackle obesity and related disorders. This mini-review will provide a concise and updated revision of the state of art on this topic.

Leptin, a peptide secreted by the white adipose tissue, circulates to the central nervous system and signals the status of body energy stores, regulating feeding behavior and energy balance. As human obesity is characterized by hyperleptinemia and leptin resistance, increasing leptin sensitivity is an attractive target for obesity treatment.

The role of adipocytes has been recently better understood. Several adipocytokines have been identified, including leptin, a main regulator of appetite and energy expenditure, adiponectin and others, as novel insulinsensitizers/ insulin-mimetics, and some others inducing insulin resistance. Adipocytokines thus represent interesting novel drug targets in the future management of obesity.

The increasing prevalence of obesity has triggered intense research on its pharmacotherapy. Besides central neuroendocrine pathways, many peripheral endocrino-metabolic signals have been investigated, but only few are probably of some utility in weight loss. This review reports about ghrelin and other gastrointestinal peptides involved in hunger and satiety.

One of the most remarkable features of the mammalian central nervous system is its ability to store large amounts of information for periods approaching a lifetime. However, during the aging process cognitive domains, such as long-term (declarative) memory and working memory decline in some, but by far not all individuals. It is essential to understand the physiological changes that cause memory decline and also Read More

During our investigation in the area of antimycobacterial agents, we have identified the 1,5-(4-chlorophenyl)-2- methyl-3-(4-methylpiperazin-1-yl)methyl-1H-pyrrole (BM212) as the lead compound for a new class of antimycobacterial pyrrole derivatives with potent in vitro activity against mycobacteria and with low cytotoxicity. We have also identified the salient structural features of BM212, while structure-activity relations Read More

This mini-review will provide an overview on the recent design principles and structure-activity-relationship of β-selective thyroid hormone receptor (TR) agonists. The prospects for the treatment of metabolic diseases as dyslipidemia with TRβ-selective ligands are considerable enough so as to avoid cardiovascular acceleration mediated through TRα.

Traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) are attracting increased global attention because of their potential to provide novel therapeutic agents based on substantial historical records of efficacy in man. Many strategies have been designed for the screening and selection of bioactive compounds from these complex natural products mixtures. Biological fingerprinting analysis (BFA), based on small molecule-biomacromolecule inter Read More

Huntington's disease (HD) is a dominantly inherited neurodegenerative disorder caused by expansion of a polyglutamine (polyQ) tract in the huntingtin protein, resulting in intracellular aggregate formation and neurodegeneration. Biochemical pathways leading from polyQ expansion to disease pathogenesis are largely unknown. Recent approaches using genetic models systems have begun to uncover nuclear and cytopl Read More