Latest ArticlesPhosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) is an important member of the phosphodiesterase enzyme family that specifically catalyzes the hydrolysis of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP), activates the downstream phosphorylation cascade pathway by altering cAMP concentration, and is strongly associated with multiple diseases. Inhibition of PDE4 is clinically investigated as a therapeutic strategy in a broad range of disease areas, including respiratory system diseases, autoimmune disorders, central nervous system diseases, and dermatological conditions. However, the incidence of adverse reactions such as nausea and vomiting is relatively high in the marketed PDE4 inhibitors, which has stalled their clinical development. In this review, we provide an overview of the clinical progression and safety issues of the marketed PDE4 inhibitors. We also review the main causes underlying PDE4-mediated adverse effects by combining the structural analysis of the PDE4 protein, the mechanism of action of PDE4 inhibitors, and the related side effect mechanism research, aiming to provide a reference for the development of safe and effective PDE4 inhibitors.
Design of structurally-novel drug molecules with deep learning can overcome the technical bottleneck of classical computer-aided drug design. It has become the frontier of new technique research on drug design, and has shown great potential in drug research and development practice. This review starts from the basic principles of deep learning-driven de novo drug design, goes on with the brief introduction to deep molecular generation techniques as well as computational tools and the analysis on representative successful cases, and eventually provides our perspective for future direction and application prospect about this technique. This review will provide ideas on new technique research and references for new drug research and development practice to which this technique is applied.
Bacterial biofilm widely exists in all kinds of bacteria, and is related to about 80 percent of bacterial infections. It is one of the main reasons for bacterial tolerance and resistance to existing antibiotics. Therefore, there is unmet clinical need for new anti-biofilm drugs. At present, there are three kinds of anti-biofilm agents under research, including biofilm inhibitors, biofilm dispersal agents and biofilm eradication agents. Among them, the biofilm eradication agent is unique, which can not only kill bacteria in biofilm but also eliminate biofilm as a monotherapy. Based on modifications of natural products with antibacterial activity, a variety of compounds with biofilm eradicating activities have been obtained, such as, acyldepsipeptides, pyrrolomycins, halogenated phenazines and halogenated 8-hydroxyquinolines. In this review, we summarize several major biofilm eradication agents above according to their structures and mechanisms.
The morbidity and mortality of gastrointestinal malignancies are the highest in the world. For patients with poor response to conventional chemotherapy, new treatment methods are urgently needed. In recent years, under the background of precision medicine, antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) with high tumor specificity and potent toxicity have become a hot research spot in the field of biomedicine. However, due to the complex structure and mechanism of ADCs, its pharmacokinetic research is facing great challenges which are the biggest resistance to the development of ADCs at present. In this case, it is of great significance to understand the pharmacokinetic properties of ADCs and make use of it to improve the efficacy of ADCs in the treatment of gastrointestinal malignancies. Based on the basic composition and mechanism of ADCs, this review summarizes the pharmacokinetic properties of ADCs, discusses its recent advances in the treatment of gastrointestinal malignancies, in order to provide more references for follow-up research on ADCs.
3D printing is an additive manufacturing technology with the help of digital control. Since FDA approved the first 3D printing drug in 2015, its research enthusiasm in the pharmaceutical field has been increasing year by year. In printing technology, fused deposition molding (FDM) and semi-solid extrusion (SSE) are the two most widely used extrusion molding technologies. In this review, recent advances of pharmaceutical 3D printing extrusion molding technology are reviewed from six aspects: mechanism, equipment, pharmaceutical excipients, applications, design and industrialization prospects of extrusion molding technology.
Asparaginyl endopeptidases (AEPs) in plants belong to the family of cysteine protease that undergo self-activation in the form of zymogen in acidic vacuole and play important physiological roles in maturation of seed storage proteins, protein degradation, programmed cell death and host defense. Bioprocessing enzymes (peptidyl Asx-specific ligases, PALs) that promote the maturation of cyclotides have recently been isolated and identified from several cyclotide-rich plants. PALs derived from AEPs can site-specifically catalyze the formation of asparagine or aspartate peptide bonds. Due to the advantages of relatively traceless peptide bonds and broad substrate spectrum and high catalytic efficiency, they have been playing important roles in the cyclization and modification of peptides and proteins, and are powerful tools for improving the stability of peptide drugs. This review describes the physiological functions of AEPs in plants and summarizes the discoveries, structural characteristics, catalytic mechanism and protein engineering of PALs, as well as the limitation of their applications and future trends. In addition, the applications of PALs in cyclotides biosynthesis and the development of macrocyclic peptides are highlighted, with the aim of providing a new idea for the biocatalytic synthesis of cyclic peptides.
This study investigated the protective effect of chrysin on hepatic fibrosis by regulating AMP-activated kinase (AMPK)-NOD-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) mediated pyroptosis pathway. The hepatic fibrosis model of mice was established by thioacetamide (TAA) in vivo. Except the control and chrysin alone groups, the mice were injected intraperitoneally with TAA at 100 mg·kg-1, three times per week for the first week. From the 2nd to 5th week, mice were injected intraperitoneally with TAA at 200 mg·kg-1, three times per week for the next 4 weeks. Chrysin groups were intragastrically administrated once per day to 5th week. The histopathological changes were detected by HE and Masson staining. The levels of serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) were assessed by the kits. All animal experiments were approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of Affiliated Zhongshan Hospital of Dalian University (DWLL2019060). LX-2 cells were stimulated by (transforming growth factor-β, TGF-β) in vitro. The protein expressions of AMPKα, p-AMPKα, NLRP3, cysteinyl aspartate specific proteinase-1 (caspase-1), gasdermin D (GSDMD) were detected by Western blot, and the mRNA levels of collagen-Ι, α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), IL-18, caspase-1, GSDMD were analysis by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Chrysin attenuated the increases in serum AST and ALT levels in the TAA group, while significantly improved the changes of liver morphology, reduced liver tissue inflammatory cell infiltration and inhibited collagens deposition. Compared with TAA group, chrysin effectively activated AMPKα phosphorylation and inhibited hepatic NLRP3 inflammasome activation. Additionally, the protein expressions and mRNA levels of IL-1β, IL-18, caspase-1 and GSDMD in chrysin groups were decreased. Chrysin inhibited the expressions of collagen-Ι and α-SMA, enhanced the phosphorylation of AMPKα, and decreased the expressions of NLRP3 and GSDMD. Therefore, chrysin may inhibit inflammatory injury and pyroptosis possibly by activating AMPK and inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasome to alleviate hepatic fibrosis.
Chikusetsusaponin IVa (CsIVa) is a natural active monomer of triterpene saponins in the Chinese herbal medicine of Panax japonicus, which has anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor and other effects. However, its function and mechanism in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) remain unclear. This study investigated the inhibitory effect and mechanisms of CsIVa on the proliferation of triple negative breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231. In this study, we found that CsIVa could significantly inhibit the proliferation of MDA-MB-231 cells and eliminate its potential toxic effect on normal breast cells (MCF-10A). The transcriptome sequencing results showed that the inhibition of proliferation of MDA-MB-231 cells by CsIVa was closely related to cell cycle and the pathway regulating cell cycle. Further studies confirmed that CsIVa blocked the cell cycle in G2/M phase by down-regulating the expression of cyclin dependent kinase 1 (CDK1), cyclin B1 and up-regulating the expression of cyclin dependent kinase inhibitor 1A (p21). Moreover, CsIVa can block cell cycle through inhibiting PI3K/AKT signal pathway. In conclusion, CsIVa regulates the expression of cell cycle related proteins (p21, CDK1, cyclin B1) via inhibiting the activity of PI3K/AKT signaling pathway, blocks TNBC cell cycle, and thus exerts its anti-tumor activity.
Total flavonoids of Dracocephalum moldavica L. (TFDM) is an effective component extracted and isolated from the traditional Uighur medicinal herb Cymbidium fragrans. Cymbidium fragrans has the effects of tonifying the heart and brain, promoting blood circulation and resolving blood stasis, and has been widely used in the treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases for a long time. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of total flavonoids from Cymbidium fragrans on hypoxia/re-oxygenation (H/R) injury in H9c2 (rat cardiomyocytes) cells and its mechanism. A model (H/R) of hypoxia/re-oxygenation injury in H9c2 cells was established using hypoxia and glucose deprivation for 9 h combined with re-oxygenation and rehydration for 2 h to simulate myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury. The effects of total flavonoids from Cymbidium fragrans on cell viability, markers of myocardial cell damage, oxidative stress levels, and reactive oxygen radical (ROS) content were investigated, Western blot was used to detect the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor B (VEGF-B) and adenosine 5'-monophosphate (AMP)-activated protein kinase (AMPK) pathway related proteins. The results showed that the total flavonoids of Cymbidium fragrans significantly increased the viability of myocardial cells after H/R injury, and decreased the content of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and creatine kinase isozyme (CK-MB) in the cell supernatant. It significantly reduced malondialdehyde (MDA), increased superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activities, and decreased intracellular ROS and nitric oxide (NO) content. Western blot analysis showed that the total flavonoids of Cymbidium fragrans decreased Bax levels in H9c2 cells damaged by H/R and increased Bcl-2 expression. Total flavones of Cymbidium fragrans upregulate VEGF-B/AMPK pathway related proteins VEGF-B, vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 1 (VEGFR-1), neuropilin 1 (NRP-1), peroxisome-proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator-1α (PGC-1α), phosphorylated adenosine monophosphate activated protein (p-AMPK) and phospho mechanistic target of rapamycin (p-MTOR) levels. The above research results indicate that the total flavonoids of Cymbidium can significantly reduce the H/R injury of myocardial cells, which may be related to the upregulation of VEGF-B/AMPK pathway and inhibition of oxidative stress response.
Polysaccharide of Balanophora involucrata Hook. f. (BPS), the major component of Balanophora involucrata Hook. f., was confirmed the protective effect on liver injury in our previous study. This research aimed to investigate the protective mechanism of BPS on experimental liver injury by attenuating cell ferroptosis through modulating solute carrier family 7 member 11/glutathione peroxidase 4 (SLC7A11/GPX4) pathway. The animal experiment was approved by the Experimental Animal Ethical Committee of Hubei Minzu University and all rats had received human care in compliance with the institutional animal care guidelines. Rats were given intraperitoneal injection of (D-galactosamine, D-GalN) solution (800 mg·kg-1) one time to establish the acute liver injury model. The results showed aspartate amino transferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE) levels in serum were decreased, and the contents of reactive oxygen species (ROS), Fe2+, malondialdehyde (MDA) and lipid peroxide (LPO) in liver tissues also decreased and glutathione (GSH) level increased after BPS administration with 200 mg·kg-1. Besides, BPS reduced iron deposition and increased the expression of SLC7A11 and GPX4 proteins in liver tissue. In conclusion, BPS ameliorated experimental liver injury by alleviating cell ferroptosis through SLC7A11/GPX4 pathway. The present study pointed to the possibility of utilizing BPS for protection against liver injury in clinic.
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