The clinical tumor therapy was greatly challenged due to the complex characteristics of tumor microenvironment, however, which also provide arena for novel therapeutic strategies. In this study, poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline)-poly(lactic acid)-SS-poly(β-amino ester (PEOz-PLA-SS-PBAE) triblock copolymers with pH and GSH double response were synthesized, polymer micelles were prepared by thin film hydration method for loading of silybin to improve its antitumor activity. The critical micelle concentration was determined by pyrene fluorescence method as 1.8 μg·mL^-1. The particle size was 155.30 ±1.80 nm as determined by dynamic light scattering, with polydispersity index of 0.168 ±0.004. The drug loading and entrapment efficiency of the micelles were determined by HPLC as (5.48 ±0.04)% and (68.52 ±0.48)%, respectively. The in vitro drug release profiles showed that the micelles have low pH sensitivity and high GSH responsiveness, and exhibited sustained release profiles. The good biocompatibility of the material was proved by measuring the hemolysis rate and cytotoxicity of the blank micelle. The cytotoxicity and apoptosis rate of tumor cells showed that the drug loaded PEOz-PLA-SS-PBAE micelles had significant inhibitory effect and apoptosis-inducing effect on MDA-MB-231 cells. The results of wounding healing assay and Transwell invasion test showed that the drug loaded PEOz-PLA-SS-PBAE micelles could significantly inhibit the metastasis of MDA-MB-231 cells. The PEOz-PLA-SS-PBAE drug-loaded micelles prepared in this study have good inhibitory effect on tumor growth and anti-tumor metastasis in vitro, which lays the foundation for the further application of silybin.

Diabetic ulcer is recognized as a chronic nonhealing wound, often associated with bacterial infection and tissue necrosis, which seriously affect patients' health and quality of life. The traditional treatment methods exist some problems, such as bacterial resistance and secondary trauma, so it is urgent to find new methods to meet the requirements of diabetic ulcer treatment. In this study, we prepared a drug delivery system (DFO@CuS nanoparticles) based on hollow copper sulfide (CuS) nanoparticles loaded with deferoxamine (DFO), which realized the synergistic therapy of promoting angiogenesis and photothermal antibacterial. The morphological structure and particle size distribution of DFO@CuS nanoparticles were characterized by transmission electron microscopy and particle size analyzer, respectively. The antibacterial effect of DFO@CuS nanoparticles was evaluated by the plate coating method. The effects of DFO@CuS nanoparticles on the proliferation, migration, and tube formation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were evaluated by CCK-8 (cell counting kit-8) assay, cell scratch assay, and tube formation assay. The results showed that DFO@CuS nanoparticles were hollow and spherical in shape with an average particle size of (200.9 ±8.6) nm. DFO@CuS nanoparticles could effectively inhibit the growth of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) under near-infrared (NIR) light irradiation. DFO@CuS nanoparticles showed negligible cytotoxicity and effective acceleration of cell migration and tube formation in a certain concentration range. In conclusion, the prepared DFO@CuS nanoparticles exhibit good photothermal antibacterial properties and pro-angiogenic effects, providing a basis for their application in the treatment of diabetic ulcer.

UiO-66 (University of Oslo 66) is a kind of promising material that can improve the release and bioavailability of poorly water-soluble bioactive compounds of traditional Chinese medicine. However, the loading of quercetin in raw UiO-66 was not ideal. In this study, UiO-66-BH (UiO-66-blend-heating) was obtained by heating UiO-66 and KOH solution following blended them. UiO-66-BH maintained the outline of octahedral structure of UiO-66 but with obvious rough and uneven pores on the surface. UiO-66-BH had good adsorption of quercetin with saturation adsorption was 138.92 mg·g^-1, the adsorption process belonged to single molecular layer adsorption and was controlled by chemisorption. UiO-66-BH can control the release of quercetin in simulated gastrointestinal fluid, and the drug concentration was significantly higher than that of free quercetin after long-term release (36% vs 9%). Compared with quercetin, the ABTS (2, 2'-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) ammonium salt) radical scavenging activity of UiO-66-BH@quercetin drug delivery system decreased, while the DPPH (1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging activity remained almost unchanged. The drug delivery system showed a strong antioxidant effect similar to quercetin. The findings indicated that UiO-66-BH could control release of quercetin and was expected to be used as a drug carrier material for some insoluble active components of traditional Chinese medicine such as quercetin.

With the growing demand of personalized medicine for children, it is especially important to develop medicines for children. In this study, using metoprolol tartrate as model drug, we developed 3D printed chewable tablets suitable for children with automated dosage distribution using semi-solid extruded (SSE) 3D printing technology. Based on the quality by design concept, this study prepared a semi-solid material with good printability using gelatin as the substrate, constructed 3D models and printed tablets with the aid of computer-aided design. The printing parameters were optimized and determined as follows: print temperature of 35-37 ℃, print speed of 25 mm·s^-1, fill rate of 15%, and number of outer profile layers of 2. Subsequently, the printing process and the quality uniformity of the tablets were verified, and a linear relationship between the dose and the number of model layers was obtained. Finally, 3D printed chewable tablets were superior in terms of appearance, dose accuracy and compliance compared with traditional split-dose commercially available tablets. In this study, 3D printed metoprolol tartrate chewable tablets with good performance were successfully prepared to address the personalized medication needs of pediatric patients.

Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge is a traditional Chinese medicinal herb widely used to treat cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases at clinic. Its main water-soluble components are rosmarinic acid (RA) and salvianolic acid B (SAB), which are produced by phenylpropanoid pathway. 4-Hydroxyphenylpyruvate reductase (HPPR) is a key enzyme in phenylpropanoid metabolism pathway. SmHPPR1 was cloned from S. miltiorrhiza and was constructed into plant expression vector pJR-SmHPPR1. On this basis, SmHPPR1 transgenic Arabidopsis plants were induced and the content of 4-hydroxyphenyllactic acid (pHPL) was determined. SmHPPR1-overexpressing (SmHPPR1-OE) hairy roots of S. miltiorrhiza were obtained and the concentration of active components and transcriptome analysis were performed. The results showed that the concentration of pHPL in SmHPPR1 transgenic Arabidopsis T1 was 0.594 mg·g^-1 dry weight. The concentration of RA, SAB and total salvianolic acid in SmHPPR1-OE-3 hairy roots were 1.09, 1.29, 1.15 times of that in control-3, respectively, and the content of Danshensu was 36.26% of that in control-3. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that overexpression of SmHPPR1 caused the upregulation of other phenylpropanoid pathway genes like SmTAT2. Protein-protein interaction indicated CYT (TR74706_c0_g1), NADP⁺ (TR26565_c0_g1) and NADP⁺ (TR68771_c0_g1) is the central node of the network and participated in metabolic process and cellular process. The tracking work in this study proved that SmHPPR1 could catalyze the reduction of 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvic acid to 4-hydroxyphenyllactic acid in SmHPPR1 transgenic Arabidopsis, and SmHPPR1-overexpressing in hairy roots of S. miltiorrhiza could increase the concentration of salvianolic acids through synergistically regulating other pathway genes.

There is a variety of gut microbiota in human body, which is closely associated with the health and disease. Normal gut microbiota can produce colonization resistance to pathogens. Antibiotics can affect the composition of gut microbiota and change the intestinal microenvironment, resulting in intestinal microecological disorders, which in turn cause intestinal pathogenic infections and other diseases. In this paper, the concept of intestinal microecology, the mechanism of intestinal colonization resistance, the effect of antibiotics on intestinal microecology, and the treatment methods were reviewed, aiming to provide the information for the rational use of antibiotics and the development of more effective treatment methods to maintain the stability of intestinal microecology.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a major contributor to patient deaths worldwide, and its pathogenesis is complex and mortality rates are increasing every year. Numerous researches have shown that the gut microbiota and its metabolites were closely associated with the development of CVD, and gut microbiota was expected to be a potential new target for the treatment of CVD. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), characterized by its multi-component, multi-target and integrity, can play a therapeutic role in CVD by regulating the gut microbiota, which has obvious advantages in stabilizing the disease, improving heart function and enhancing quality of life, and is an ideal intestinal microecological regulator. Therefore, this review will mainly discuss the intimate association of gut microbiota and its metabolites with CVD, and the therapeutic strategies of TCM targeting gut microbiota to improve CVD, including regulating the composition of gut microbiota, protecting the intestinal mucosal barrier, influencing the intestinal immune function and modulating the metabolites of gut microbiota, in order to provide a reference for the research of TCM targeting gut microbiota for CVD.

Target identification and verification of natural products is an important and challenging work in the field of chemical biology. It is also an important job for researchers to apply chemical proteomics technology to biomedicine in order to identify target proteins of natural products. Target identification is critical to understanding its mechanisms and developing natural products as molecular probes and potential therapeutic drugs. Traditional approaches of small molecule target identification based on affinity have been shown to be successful, such as click-chemical probes, radioisotope labeling or photosensitized small-molecule probes. Nevertheless, these technologies require purified candidate target proteins, and modified small molecules with probes or linkers, such as adding agarose beads, biotin labels, fluorescent labeling or photo-affinity labeling. Many structure-activity relationship studies should be performed to ensure that the addition of small molecule labels undisturbed the original biological activity of the small molecules. Unfortunately, all these modifications are likely to alter their biological activity or binding specificity. To overcome the bottleneck of "target recognition", researchers have developed a series of new techniques for unmodified drug target identification. In this article, we reviewed the target identification techniques of natural product without structural modification in order to provide reference for the development of natural products.

Although small molecule drugs (SMD) are still mainstream for the treatment of diseases, large molecule biologicss of many advantages, pose a challenge to the further discovery and use of SMD. The advantages of SMD are the convenience of oral administration and good patient compliance. However, the challenge with SMD is to integrate the PD, PK, selectivity and safety into a chemical structure. Because of their small size and surface area they often bind to various proteins, and off-target actions can cause adverse reactions. In this sense, selectivity is critical. Based upon target as the core to construct a chemical structure, it is necessary to consider the requirements of all the attributes, but achievement of the full-dimensional optimization is difficult. Modern drug discovery has been greatly enhanced by molecular biology and structural biology, and new strategies and technologies have emerged, which have created many successful medicines. For example, under the guidance of structural biology, covalent binding drugs connect moderate "electrophilic warheads" to the appropriate positions of molecules, and upon binding to their targets the electrophiles are irreversibly linked to the target by covalent bonds. Molecular biology can be directly applied to the development of antibody-coupled drugs (ADC). The antibody (A) acts as a carrier and a guide (for PK), and carries toxic molecules (D) into cancer cells, thus playing a killing role (for PD). The separate pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic entities are coupled (C) by linkers. PROTACs are also bifunctional molecules, which recruit a target protein and ubiquitin ligase E3 to form a ternary complex, which then acts as a catalyst to ubiquitinate the target protein and lead to degradation by the proteasome. In addition, in recent years, the combination of two fixed-dose drugs has improved selectivity, safety, and long-term benefit with many severe diseases, and can be regarded as an innovative strategy of physical combination. This review discusses some successful examples to briefly present the principles from the perspective of medicinal chemistry and therapeutic application.

Molecular chaperone system, which mainly consist of heat shock proteins family and their cochaperones, is crucial for maintaining proteostasis in life. It assists in folding, maturation and ubiquitin-proteasome-mediated degradation of proteins, thus to play a key role in cell proliferation and apoptosis. Functional disorder of molecular chaperone system is highly relevant to occurrence and development of multiple diseases including cancers, autoimmune disease/inflammatory, infective diseases, neurodegenerative disease, etc. Therefore, molecular chaperone system has long been regarded as potential drug targets. In this review, we outline the progress in the design of small molecules targeting molecular chaperone system and analyze the features of small molecules with different mechanisms. Finally, we put forward expects about potential development directions for future drug design in this field.