Mini Reviews in Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 8, Issue 12, 2008

Hydrolysable tannins (HTs), secondary metabolites widely distributed in the plant kingdom, are generally multiple esters of gallic acid with glucose. HTs have been shown to be effective antagonists against viruses, bacteria and eukaryotic microorganisms. The present review examines the antimicrobial and antiviral activity of HTs, the mechanism(s) of action, and some structure-activity relationships.

Gamma hydroxybutyric acid (GHB), an endogenous constituent of the mammalian brain, acts as i) a neurotransmitter or neuromodulator, ii) a medicine used for the treatment of narcolepsy and alcoholism, and iii) a drug illicitly used for its psychotropic effects. GHB is thought to act as a specific GHB receptor agonist as well as a weak gammaaminobutyric acid type B (GABAB) receptor agonist. Here, I review the in vivo an Read More

Collinin is a geranyloxycoumarins isolated in small amounts from plants of the Rutaceae family. Synthetic schemes were recently developed allowing to handle collinin in sufficient quantities to put in evidence valuable biological effects. The aim of this review is to examine the phytochemical and pharmacological properties of this compound.

Caldesmon is a negative regulator of cell proliferation, migration, and metalloproteinase release. Caldesmon function is regulated by multiple kinases, targeting multiple phosphorylation sites. Recently, overexpression of caldesmon has been shown to inhibit neointimal formation after experimental angioplasty, suggesting that caldesmon may be a potential therapeutic target for proliferative vascular diseases.

γ-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) is the major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the mammalian central nervous system (CNS). A decrease in GABAergic neurotransmission seems to be involved in neurological pathologies such as epilepsy, anxiety and pain. This review is focus on structure activity relationship studies aiming the search for new GABA uptake inhibitors.

Chalcones are a group of phenolic compounds which possess a wide variety of cytoprotective and modulatory functions. They have been shown to possess antioxidant, oxygen scavenging and anti-inflammatory properties in a variety of experimental systems and can trigger the intracellular cascade of protective pathways offering a promising stratagem for therapeutic applications. In this research we will review the anti-infla Read More

Reverse transcription is a crucial step in the life cycle of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). In this process, multiple functional enzymes including RNA-dependent DNA polymerase, DNA-dependent DNA polymerase and RNase H are indispensable. The RNase H functions to degrade RNA of the RNA-DNA heteroduplex into small fragment. These properties of HIV-1 RNase H make it an attractive target for rational anti- Read More

A molecular guidance system useful in drug design is described in which nuclear receptors position ligands in intercalation sites in responsive genes. Evidence is based upon positions of agonists in receptors and the transcriptional activity of a designed estrogen that is 3 times more potent than the steroid hormone estradiol.

The role played by synthetic organic chemistry of marine metabolites as potential leads for drug discovery of antimalarial agents is discussed. Syntheses of the most promising molecules are summarized, with emphasis on structureactivity relationship (SAR) studies and their mechanism of action.

Voltage-gated Calcium channels (VGCCs) play important roles in neurotransmitter release, excitationcontraction coupling, hormone secretion, and a variety of other physiological processes. Currently, there exist ion channel therapeutics for anxiety, epilepsy, hypertension, insomnia and pain. There is limited amount of study in this area despite their relevance to human disease and VGCCs remain considerably underexploited. Read More

Most kinase inhibitors reported so far are designed to bind to a highly conserved ATP binding pocket in a competitive manner. In this case, inhibitors targeting the ATP pocket may crossreact with different kinases, as well as with other proteins that bind ATP, and this may cause undesirable side effects that would limit their clinical usefulness. In addition to the kinase selectivity issues, human ether-a-go-go-related gene (hERG) inhi Read More

The hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) is strictly essential for viral replication and it has been used as viral target for anti-HCV drug development. All small molecules which have been identified to be selective non-nucleoside inhibitors (NNI) of the HCV RdRp to date are reported.