Potential Multi-target Drugs Research Articles

New Multitarget Rivastigmine-Indole Hybrids as Potential Drug Candidates for Alzheimer's Disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia with no cure so far, probably due to the complexity of this multifactorial disease with diverse processes associated with its origin and progress. Several neuropathological hallmarks have been identified that encourage the search for new multitarget drugs. Therefore, following a multitarget approach, nine rivastigmine-indole (RIV-IND) hybrids (5a1-3, 5b1-3, 5c1-3) were designed, synthesized and evaluated for their multiple biological properties and free radical scavenging activity, as potential multitarget anti-AD drugs. The molecular docking studies of these hybrids on the active center of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) suggest their capacity to act as dual enzyme inhibitors with probable greater disease-modifying impact relative to AChE-selective FDA-approved drugs. Compounds 5a3 (IC50 = 10.9 µM) and 5c3 (IC50 = 26.8 µM) revealed higher AChE inhibition than the parent RIV drug. Radical scavenging assays demonstrated that all the hybrids containing a hydroxyl substituent in the IND moiety (5a2-3, 5b2-3, 5c2-3) have good antioxidant activity (EC50 7.8-20.7 µM). The most effective inhibitors of Aβ42 self-aggregation are 5a3, 5b3 and 5c3 (47.8-55.5%), and compounds 5b2 and 5c2 can prevent the toxicity induced by Aβ1-42 to cells. The in silico evaluation of the drug-likeness of the hybrids also showed that all the compounds seem to have potential oral availability. Overall, within this class of RIV-IND hybrids, 5a3 and 5c3 appear as lead compounds for anti-AD drug candidates, deserving further investigation.

Queuine as a potential multi-target drug for alzheimer’s disease: insights from protein dynamics

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder with a complex pathogenesis. One promising approach to treating AD is simultaneously targeting multiple aspects of the disease using a multi-target drug (MTD). In this study, multi-target drug (MTD) potential of the nutraceutical molecule Queuine was explored using molecular docking and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations with five different protein targets engaged in AD: AChE, beta-site amyloid precursor protein cleaving enzyme-1 (BACE-1), N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR), monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A), and Synapsin III. Queuine revealed significant binding affinities, the docking scores being −10.1, −5.97, −5.63, −8.40, and −10.56 kcal/mol for AChE, BACE-1, NMDAR, MAO-A, and Synapsin III, respectively. MD simulations showed that Queuine formed stable complexes and preserved its stability throughout the simulation, the backbone fluctuations remaining within 2.5 Å specifically in the case of the BACE-1. Elastic network model simulations and principal component analysis were carried out to illustrate the dynamics of the protein systems. Significant hinge-bending and twisting-type motions that may be relevant to function were observed around the dimerization interfaces or binding sites. Structural clustering based on PCA analysis and cross-correlation maps demonstrated that Queuine binding altered the protein dynamics more drastically in the case of highly mobile proteins NMDAR and MAO-A. We propose that the neuroprotective effect of Queuine may stem from its prominent inhibitory action on enzymes BACE-1 and AChE. Our results suggest that Queuine may serve as a promising MTD candidate for the treatment of AD. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma

Preparation of Menthyl 3-amino-4-(2,4,5-trifluorophenyl) Butyrate and Investigation of its Hypoglycemic Activity.

3-Amino-4-(2,4,5-trifluorophenyl) butyric acid has potential pharmacological effects in promoting insulin secretion. Menthol promotes drug transdermal absorption and hypoglycemic effects. The objective of the study was to combine the 3-amino-4-(2,4,5- trifluorophenyl) butyric acid and menthol to develop a new candidate drug molecule that can be used as a hypoglycemic drug in type II diabetes. In this study, the molecular structure of 3-amino-4-(2,4,5-trifluorophenyl) butyric acid in sitagliptin was modified by replacing pyrazine imidazole with menthol. The structure of the target compound was characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The anti-diabetic activity of BHF in N000180 BKS.Cg-Dock7m+/ +Leprdb/Nju mice with spontaneous diabetes was preliminarily studied. A potential multi-target drug molecule, 3-amino-4-(2,4,5-trifluorophenyl) butyrate (BHF), was synthesized by combining 3-amino-4-(2,4,5-trifluorophenyl) butyric acid and menthol. BHF is suitable for hyperglycemic mice and has a significant hypoglycemic effect; the low dose of 10 mg/kg-1 started to be effective, and the high dose of 40 mg/kg-1 was more effective than the positive drug metformin. In this study, BHF has been synthesized and presented significant antidiabetic activities.

Virtual Screening and Multi-targets Investigation of Novel Diazine Derivatives as Potential Xanthine Oxidase Inhibitors Based on QSAR, Molecular Docking, ADMET Properties, Dynamics Simulation and Network Pharmacology.

Hyperuricemia is closely related to the occurrence of gout, hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, metabolic syndrome, etc. However, xanthine oxidase inhibitors (XOIs) can fundamentally solve the problem of excessive uric acid. Compared to single-target drugs, multi-target drugs are not prone to adverse reactions and exert a synergistic effect. Therefore, the discovery of new multi-target XOIs and their mechanism of therapeutic hyperuricemia are important to overcome adverse effects and resistance to currently available drugs. The purpose of this paper is to obtain novel diazine derivatives as promising multi-target XOIs and discover the interaction mechanism for the better treatment of hyperuricemia. Novel multi-target XOIs diazine derivatives, and their interaction mechanism have been obtained through QSAR, molecular docking, dynamics simulation, and network pharmacology. In addition, ADMET properties and synthetic accessibility of novel XOIs have been considered using ADMETLAB 2.0 and SwissADME. 24 novel diazine derivatives as potential multi-target XOIs lead compounds have been found through virtual screening of the PubChem database. Moreover, the most notable top five compounds are worthy of further developing as multi-target XOIs drugs. XDH, TBK1, DGAT1, MYC, CDKN1A, PPARD, PDE6C, and EIF4E are recommended as relevant targets of therapeutic hyperuricemia. Through the combination of different methods, we have discovered five novel promising diazine derivatives as potential multi-target XOIs drugs. Meanwhile, eight targets have been found to be helpful in the research on therapeutic hyperuricemia. We expect this investigation will offer clear insights into the production of efficient XOIs drugs.

Repurposing of FDA-approved drugs as dual-acting MAO-B and AChE inhibitors against Alzheimer's disease: An in silico and in vitro study

An in silico consensus molecular docking approach and in vitro evaluations were adopted in the present study to explore a dataset of FDA-approved drugs as novel multitarget MAO-B/AChE agents in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). GOLD 5.3 and Glide were employed in the virtual assessments and consensus superimpositions of the obtained poses were applied to increase the reliability of the docking protocols. Furthermore, the top ranked molecules were subjected to binding free energy calculations using MM/GBSA, Induced fit docking (IFD) simulations, and a literature review. Consequently, the top four multitarget drugs were examined for their in vitro MAO-B and AChE inhibition effects. The consensus molecular docking identified Dolutegravir, Rebamipide, Loracarbef and Diflunisal as potential multitarget drugs. The biological data demonstrated that most of the docking scores were in good correlation with the in vitro experiments, however the theoretical simulations in the active site of MAO-B identified two false-positives – Rebamipide and Diflunisal. Dolutegravir and Loracarbef were accessed as active MAO-B inhibitors, while Dolutegravir, Rebamapide and Diflunisal as potential AChE inhibitors. The antiretroviral agent Dolutegravir exhibited the most potent multitarget activity - 41% inhibition of MAO-B (1 μM) and 68% inhibition of AChE (10 μM). Visualizations of the intermolecular interactions of Dolutegravir in the active sites of MAO-B and AChE revealed the formation of several stable hydrogen bonds. Overall, Dolutegravir was identified as a potential anti-AD drug, however further in vivo evaluations should be considered.

Alantolactone: A Potential Multitarget Drug candidate for Prevention of SARS-CoV-2 Cell Entry

The novel strain of coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, has spread adverse effects on human health with high mortality rates worldwide. SARS-CoV-2 is a severe respiratory disease expressed through positive single stranded RNA enveloped virus. SARS-CoV-2 had affected globally and is influencing the economy as well. The rapidly spreading coronavirus infection has discombobulated the researchers in perpetuate search for different or effective therapeutic drugs. Most of the connatural products are proposed to have significant clinical outcomes but their pathways of action are not clear. This molecular docking study presents alantolactone, a bio-active member of sesquiterpene family as a successful inhibitor of SARS-Cov-2 and human receptor proteins. Alantolactone shows high binding affinity with the SARS-CoV-2 target proteins such as spike glycoprotein (S-protein), nucleocapsid protein (N-protein), main protease (MPro), and papain-like protease (PLPro) with a binding affinity of -7.3 kcal/mol, -7.9 kcal/mol, -6.8 kcal/mol, and -7.1 kcal/mol, respectively as well as human receptor proteins associated with the recognition, binding and biogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 such as angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE-2), receptor binding domain (S1-RBD) and ACE2 interphase, furin, adaptor-associated protein kinase 1 (AAK1), cyclin G-associated kinase (GAK), and both closed and open configurations of the two-pore channel (TPC2) with binding energies of -6.7 kcal/mol, - 6.9 kcal/mol, -8.1 kcal/mol, -7.3 kcal/mol, and -7.9 kcal/mol, respectively. Molecular docking and ADMET properties and toxicity predictions suggest that alantolactone could effectively binds with various viral target protein and human target proteins and could be developed into a novel SARS-coV-2 inhibitor.

In Combo Studies for the Optimization of 5-Aminoanthranilic Acid Derivatives as Potential Multitarget Drugs for the Management of Metabolic Syndrome.

Metabolic syndrome is a set of risk factors that consist of abdominal obesity, arterial hypertension, alterations in the lipid profile, and hyperglycemia. The current therapeutic strategy includes polypharmacy, using three or more drugs to control each syndrome component. However, this approach has drawbacks that could lead to therapeutic failure. Multitarget drugs are molecules with the ability to act on different targets simultaneously and are an attractive alternative for treating complex diseases such as metabolic syndrome. Previously, we identified a triamide derivative of 5-aminoanthranilic acid that exhibited hypoglycemic, hypolipemic, and antihypertensive activities simultaneously. In the present study, we report the synthesis and in combo evaluation of new derivatives of anthranilic acid, intending to identify the primary structural factors that improve the activity over metabolic syndrome-related parameters. We found that substitution on position 5, incorporation of 3,4-dimethoxyphenyl substituents, and having a free carboxylic acid group lead to the in vitro inhibition of HMG-CoA reductase, and simultaneously the diminution of the serum levels of glucose, triglycerides, and cholesterol in a diet-induced in vivo model.

Synthesis and study of the biological activity of thiourea-containing amiridine derivatives as potential multi-target drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease

Synthesis and study of the biological activity of thiourea-containing amiridine derivatives as potential multi-target drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease

Study on the Neuroprotective, Radical-Scavenging and MAO-B Inhibiting Properties of New Benzimidazole Arylhydrazones as Potential Multi-Target Drugs for the Treatment of Parkinson's Disease.

Oxidative stress is a key contributing factor in the complex degenerating cascade in Parkinson’s disease. The inhibition of MAO-B affords higher dopamine bioavailability and stops ROS formation. The incorporation of hydroxy and methoxy groups in the arylhydrazone moiety of a new series of 1,3-disubstituted benzimidazole-2-thiones could increase the neuroprotective activity. In vitro safety evaluation on SH-SY5Y cells and rat brain synaptosomes showed a strong safety profile. Antioxidant and neuroprotective effects were evaluated in H2O2-induced oxidative stress on SH-SY5Y cells and in a model of 6-OHDA-induced neurotoxicity in rat brain synaptosomes, where the dihydroxy compounds 3h and 3i demonstrated the most robust neuroprotective and antioxidant activity, more pronounced than the reference melatonin and rasagiline. Statistically significant MAO-B inhibitory effects were exerted by some of the compounds where again the catecholic compound 3h was the most potent inhibitor similar to selegiline and rasagiline. The most potent antioxidant effect in the ferrous iron induced lipid peroxidation assay was observed for the three catechols—3h and 3j, 3q. The catecholic compound 3h showed scavenging capability against superoxide radicals and antioxidant effect in the iron/deoxyribose system. The study outlines a perspective multifunctional compound with the best safety profile, neuroprotective, antioxidant and MAO-B inhibiting properties.

Caffeoyl malic acid is a potential dual inhibitor targeting TNFα/IL-4 evaluated by a combination strategy of network analysis-deep learning-molecular simulation

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common inflammatory skin disease involving multiple signaling pathways. One of the effective treatment strategies of AD is to develop a new drug capable of regulating the key therapeutic targets. Here we report the combination use of network analysis, deep learning, and molecular simulation for the identification of key therapeutic targets for AD and screening of potential multi-target drugs. From the TCM@Taiwan database, we identify a small molecule, namely caffeoyl malic acid (CMA), to inhibit the key therapeutic targets (TNFα and IL-4) for AD. CMA is further identified as a TNFα inhibitor by a deep learning model based on convolutional neural network. Molecular simulations demonstrate that CMA can stably bind to TNFα and IL-4, thereby producing diverse effects on the structural fluctuation, structural flexibility, looseness, and motion strength of each protein. Furthermore, conformation alignments reveal that CMA makes the distance between chain A and C of TNFα become wider and the slit between the two α helices of IL-4 get narrow obviously. CMA leads to the change of protein conformation, which hinders the formation of the protein-receptor complex. Collectively, our findings suggest that CMA is a potential dual TNFα/IL-4 inhibitor for the treatment of AD.

Develop potential multi-target drugs by self-assembly of quercetin with amino acids and metal ion to achieve significant efficacy in anti-Alzheimer’s disease

Develop potential multi-target drugs by self-assembly of quercetin with amino acids and metal ion to achieve significant efficacy in anti-Alzheimer’s disease

Bezafibrate Exerts Neuroprotective Effects in a Rat Model of Sporadic Alzheimer's Disease.

Bezafibrate, a pan-peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) agonist, reportedly attenuated tau pathology in a transgenic mouse model of primary tauopathy. Since tau pathology is a neuropathological hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), bezafibrate may be a potential drug for the treatment of AD. However, no study has investigated its effects in AD models. Thus, we aimed to evaluate whether bezafibrate has neuroprotective effects in a sporadic AD model induced by streptozotocin (STZ) intracerebroventricular (ICV) injection. Rats were administered STZ-ICV (3 mg/kg) followed by bezafibrate (50 mg/kg/day, intraperitoneal) for 4 weeks. Behavior tests and positron emission tomography (PET) were performed to evaluate longitudinal changes in cognitive function, tau pathology, and cerebral glucose metabolism. Immunofluorescence staining was performed to assess neuronal survival and microglial accumulation. STZ-ICV administration induced significant cognitive impairment and substantial neuronal loss, tau pathology, glucose hypometabolism, and microgliosis in the cortex and hippocampus, while bezafibrate effectively attenuated these abnormalities. This study demonstrated that bezafibrate has long-lasting neuroprotective effects in a sporadic AD model. Our data indicate that the neuroprotective effects of bezafibrate might be associated with its ability to ameliorate tau pathology, brain glucose hypometabolism, and neuroinflammation. These findings suggest that bezafibrate is a potential multi-target drug candidate for the treatment of AD.

In Silico-Based Design and In Vivo Evaluation of an Anthranilic Acid Derivative as a Multitarget Drug in a Diet-Induced Metabolic Syndrome Model.

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a complex disease that affects almost a quarter of the world’s adult population. In MetS, diabetes, obesity, hyperglycemia, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure are the most common disorders. Polypharmacy is the most used strategy for managing conditions related to MetS, but it has drawbacks such as low medication adherence. Multitarget ligands have been proposed as an interesting approach to developing drugs to treat complex diseases. However, suitable preclinical models that allow their evaluation in a context closer to a clinical situation of a complex disease are needed. From molecular docking studies, compound 1b, a 5-aminoanthranilic acid derivative substituted with 4′-trifluoromethylbenzylamino and 3′,4′-dimethoxybenzamide moieties, was identified as a potential multitarget drug, as it showed high in silico affinity against targets related to MetS, including PPAR-α, PPAR-γ, and HMG-CoA reductase. It was evaluated in a diet-induced MetS rat model and simultaneously lowered blood pressure, glucose, total cholesterol, and triglyceride levels after a 14-day treatment. No toxicity events were observed during an acute lethal dose evaluation test at 1500 mg/kg. Hence, the diet-induced MetS model is suitable for evaluating treatments for MetS, and compound 1b is an attractive starting point for developing multitarget drugs.

Rilpivirine inhibits SARS-CoV-2 protein targets: A potential multi-target drug

BackgroundCOVID-19 disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 is lacking efficient medication although certain medications are used to relief its symptoms. ObjectivesWe tested an FDA-approved antiviral medication namely rilpivirine to find a drug against SARS-CoV-2. MethodsThe inhibition of rilpivirine against multiple SARS-CoV-2 therapeutic targets was studied using in silico method. The binding attraction of the protein-ligand complexes were calculated using molecular docking analysis. ResultsDocking rilpivirine with main protease (Mpro), papin like protease (PLpro), sprike protein (Spro), human angiotensin converting enzyme-2 (ACE2), and RNA dependent-RNA polymerase (RdRp) yielded binding energies of −8.07, −8.40, −7.55, −9.11, and −8.69 kcal/mol, respectively. The electrostatic interaction is the key force in stabilizing the RdRp-rilpivirine complex, while van der Waals interaction dominates in the ACE2 rilpivirine case. Our findings suggest that rilpivirine can inhibit SARS-CoV-2 replication by targeting not only ACE2, but also RdRp and other targets, and therefore, it can be used to invoke altered mechanisms at the pre-entry and post-entry phases. ConclusionAs a result of our in silico molecular docking study, we suggest that rilpivirine is a compound that could act as a powerful inhibitor against SARS-CoV-2 targets. Although in vitro and in vivo experiments are needed to verify this prediction we believe that this antiviral drug may be used in preclinical trials to fight against SARS coronavirus.

Identification of Multi-Target Anti-AD Chemical Constituents From Traditional Chinese Medicine Formulae by Integrating Virtual Screening and In Vitro Validation.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that seriously threatens the health of the elderly. At present, no drugs have been proven to cure or delay the progression of the disease. Due to the multifactorial aetiology of this disease, the multi-target-directed ligand (MTDL) approach provides an innovative and promising idea in search for new drugs against AD. In order to find potential multi-target anti-AD drugs from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formulae, a compound database derived from anti-AD Chinese herbal formulae was constructed and predicted by the anti-AD multi-target drug prediction platform established in our laboratory. By analyzing the results of virtual screening, 226 chemical constituents with 3 or more potential AD-related targets were collected, from which 16 compounds that were predicted to combat AD through various mechanisms were chosen for biological validation. Several cell models were established to validate the anti-AD effects of these compounds, including KCl, Aβ, okadaic acid (OA), SNP and H2O2 induced SH-SY5Y cell model and LPS induced BV2 microglia model. The experimental results showed that 12 compounds including Nonivamide, Bavachromene and 3,4-Dimethoxycinnamic acid could protect model cells from AD-related damages and showed potential anti-AD activity. Furthermore, the potential targets of Nonivamide were investigated by molecular docking study and analysis with CDOCKER revealed the possible binding mode of Nonivamide with its predicted targets. In summary, 12 potential multi-target anti-AD compounds have been found from anti-AD TCM formulae by comprehensive application of computational prediction, molecular docking method and biological validation, which laid a theoretical and experimental foundation for in-depth study, also providing important information and new research ideas for the discovery of anti-AD compounds from traditional Chinese medicine.

Discovery of new phenyl sulfonyl-pyrimidine carboxylate derivatives as the potential multi-target drugs with effective anti-Alzheimer's action: Design, synthesis, crystal structure and in-vitro biological evaluation.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is multifactorial, progressive neurodegeneration with impaired behavioural and cognitive functions. The multitarget-directed ligand (MTDL) strategies are promising paradigm in drug development, potentially leading to new possible therapy options for complex AD. Herein, a series of novel MTDLs phenylsulfonyl-pyrimidine carboxylate (BS-1 to BS-24) derivatives were designed and synthesized for AD treatment. All the synthesized compounds were validated by 1HNMR, 13CNMR, HRMS, and BS-19 were structurally validated by X-Ray single diffraction analysis. To evaluate the plausible binding affinity of designed compounds, molecular docking study was performed, and the result revealed their significant interaction with active sites of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE). The synthesized compounds displayed moderate to excellent invitro enzyme inhibitory activity against AChE and BuChE at nanomolar (nM) concentration. Among 24 compounds (BS-1 to BS-24), the optimal compounds (BS-10 and BS-22) displayed potential inhibition against AChE; IC50=47.33±0.02nM and 51.36±0.04nM and moderate inhibition against BuChE; IC50=159.43±0.72nM and 153.3±0.74nM respectively. In the enzyme kinetics study, the compound BS-10 displayed non-competitive inhibition of AChE with Ki=8nM. Respective compounds BS-10 and BS-22 inhibited AChE-induced Aβ1-42 aggregation in thioflavin T-assay at 10μM and 20μM, but BS-10 at 10μM and 20μM concentrations are found more potent than BS-22. In addition, the aggregation properties were determined by the dynamic light scattering (DLS) and was found that BS-10 and BS-22 could significantly inhibit self-induced as well as AChE-induced Aβ1-42 aggregation. The effect of compounds (BS-10 and BS-22) on the viability of MC65 neuroblastoma cells and their capability to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) in PAMPA-BBB were further studied. Further, in silico approach was applied to analyze physicochemical and pharmacokinetics properties of the designed compounds via the SwissADME and PreADMET server. Hence, the novel phenylsulfonyl-pyrimidine carboxylate derivatives can act as promising leads in the development of AChE inhibitors and Aβ disaggregator for the treatment of AD.

Structure-based strategies for synthesis, lead optimization and biological evaluation of N-substituted anthra[1,2-c][1,2,5]thiadiazole-6,11-dione derivatives as potential multi-target anticancer agents

As part of our research on developing multi-target small molecule anticancer agents, we designed, synthesized, and biologically evaluated a series of novel diversified analogues based on our thiadiazole-fused anthraquinone lead compound NSC745885. We initially screened our compounds based on their cytotoxicities against two prostate cancer cell lines (PC-3 and DU-145). Cytotoxicities of the selected compounds (3, 5, 6, 10, 11, 14, 15, 17, 18) were then evaluated using the single-dose testing against a panel of 60 cancer cell lines. Compounds which exceeded the threshold inhibition criteria (3, 6, 10, 11, 14, 17) were further evaluated using the five-dose cytotoxicity experiments against the panel of 60 cancer cell lines. Our compounds exhibited potent antiproliferative effects against the tested cancer cell lines with 50% growth inhibition (GI50) values in the sub-micro molar range. Furthermore, 3 and 6 showed high selectivity towards the leukemia subpanel, whereas 6 showed high selectivity towards the prostate subpanel. Our potent compound 11 (RV59, NSC763967) showed broad-spectrum cytotoxicity against different types of cancer cells, while being less cytotoxic than doxorubicin towards different normal cells (SV-HUC-1, WMPY-1, and RWPE-1). COMPARE analysis of the cytotoxicity data indicated that 11 is similar to the apoptosis-based anticancer drugs. We confirmed the apoptotic effects of 11 by microscopy, Western blotting, and flow cytometry of treated cancer cells, and found that it caused cells to exhibit apoptotic morphology, inhibited cyclin D1 and COX-2 in a dose-dependent manner, and accumulated cells at the G0/G1 phase with reduction of cells in the S and G2/M phases of cell cycle. Moreover, we tested the inhibition capabilities of our compounds towards Topoisomerases (TOP) using computational modeling and found that they are specific inhibitors to TOP1. Our data presented here presents our compounds as potential multi-target anticancer drugs.

Molecular Insights into the Interaction of Ursolic Acid and Cucurbitacin from Colocynth with Therapeutic Targets of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Aims:Medicinal plants like Citrullus colocynthis are a potential choice to produce helpful novel antimycobacterial drugs. The existence of a range of natural products in the plants, especially Ursolic Acid (UA) and cucurbitacin E 2-0-β-d-glucopyranoside (CEG), with promising antibacterial activity against a variety of bacteria, prompted the need to check its actions against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb).Background:Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), an obligate human pathogen causes tuberculosis and is one of the major causes of death worldwide. A few combinations of drugs are currently accessible for treating TB patients, but these are inadequate to tackle worldwide TB cases.Objective:The molecular interactions between ursolic acid and cucurbitacin E with the eight potential Mtb target proteins were investigated with the objective of finding drug-like inhibitors.Methods:Avogadro v.1.2.0 and Openbabel v.2.4.1 were used for creating file formats required for docking analysis. Molecular docking was performed with eight different proteins essential for Mtb metabolism and survival. AutoDock v.4.2 and AutoDock vina v.1.1.2 were used for docking and Gromacs 5.1.4 was used for simulation studies.Results and Discussion:Among the two ligands used in this research, cucurbitacin E showed a better docking score relative to the drugs presently available for all the target proteins. Rifampicin showed the best binding affinity (among known inhibitors) i.e. -10.8 kcal/mol with C terminal caspase recruitment domain. Moreover, ursolic acid and cucurbitacin E showed uniform binding score (above -7.5 kcal/mol) with all the target proteins, acknowledged its availability as a potential multi-target drug.Conclusion:Ursolic acid can be useful in the creation of novel, multi-targeted and effective anti- TB medicines since it showed stable structure with FabH.

Antidiabetic effects and safety profile of chitosan delivery systems loaded with new xanthine-thiazolidine-4-one derivatives: in vivo studies

Based on important biological effects associated with xanthine and thiazolidine-4-one moieties, especially hypoglycemic and antioxidant, new xanthine derivatives with thiazolidine-4-one scaffold (XTDs, 6a-k) have been synthesized and reported by our research group, as new potential multitarget antidiabetic drugs. The goal of this work was to evaluate the in vivo antidiabetic potential and safety profile of the most proper XTDs (6c, 6e) and their chitosan based formulations, CS-XTDs (CS-6c, CS-6e) selected based on previous results in terms of their in vitro antioxidant effects and physic-chemical characteristics. Using a streptozotocin-induced diabetes model, the hypoglycemic effect (postprandial glycemia and glycated hemoglobin), biochemical markers of liver and kidney function, as well as hematological markers have been evaluated. The effect on lipid profile and clinical parameters (body weight, food, and water intake) has been also monitored. Moreover, the biopharmaceutical characteristics of 6c and 6e were predicted using in silico computerized methods. The treatment of diabetic rats with CS-XTDs, especially CS-6c was associated with appreciable hypoglycemic effect, the values of postprandial glycemia and glycated hemoglobin being similar with pioglitazone, used as reference drug. In addition, the recorded values for liver enzymes (AST, ALT, LDH), bilirubin (direct, total) and kidney biochemical markers (creatinine, uric acid, urea) were also comparable with pioglitazone. Also, CS-6c was associated with good hematological markers and clinical parameters. The results highlighted the efficiency of the developed chitosan delivery system CS-6c for the treatment of diabetes mellitus syndrome, acting as a potential multitarget agent.

Insight into antimicrobial activity of substituted phenylcarbamoyloxypiperazinylpropanols

3-[4-(Substituted)phenyl-/4-(diphenylmethyl)phenylpiperazin-1-yl]-2-hydroxypropyl-1-[(substituted)phenyl]carbamates and their salts with hydrochloric acid were synthesized, characterized, and tested in vitro against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29213 and Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 29212 as reference and quality control strains, against three methicillin-resistant isolates of S. aureus, and three isolates of vancomycin-resistant E. faecalis. All the compounds were evaluated against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Ra/ATCC 25177, M. kansasii DSM 44162, and M. smegmatis ATCC 700084. All of the tested compounds demonstrated very good activity against all the tested strains/isolates comparable with or better than that of clinically used drugs (ampicillin, ciprofloxacin, vancomycin, isoniazid). 1-[{(3-Trifluoromethyl)phenyl}carbamoyloxy-2-hydroxypropyl]-4-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)piperazin-1-ium chloride demonstrated the highest potency against all the tested strains/isolates (MICs ranged from 3.78 to 30.2 µM), and 1-[{(3-trifluoromethyl)phenyl}carbamoyloxy-2-hydroxypropyl]-4-(diphenylmethyl)piperazin-1-ium chloride was the most effective against all the screened mycobacterial strains (MICs ranged from 3.64 to 14.5 µM). All the investigated derivatives had strong antibiofilm activity against S. aureus ATCC 29123 and a synergistic or additive effect with gentamicin against isolates of E. faecalis with both intrinsic and acquired resistance to gentamicin. The screening of the cytotoxicity of the compounds was performed using human monocytic leukemia THP-1 cells. The IC50 values of the most effective compounds ranged from ca. 2.8 to 7.3 µM; thus, it can be stated that the antimicrobial effect is closely connected with their cytotoxicity. These observations disqualify these compounds from further development as antimicrobial agents, but they can be considered potential multi-target drugs with a preferred anticancer effect with good water solubility and additional anti-infectious activity.