Latest ArticlesThe near-infrared-Ⅱb (NIR-Ⅱb, 1 500-1 700 nm) window fluorescence with long emission wavelength has reduced light scattering and tissue auto-fluorescent background, achieving deep tissue imaging with high spatial resolution. Herein, we prepared an NIR-Ⅱb fluorescent quantum dots (QDs) composed of lead sulfide (PbS). The fluorescence spectrum of PbS QDs were adjusted by controlling the size of the PbS core. Cadmium sulfide (CdS) shell was synthesized by the cation exchange method to form the core/shelled lead sulfide/cadmium sulfide quantum dots (CSQDs). The surface of CSQDs was modified with polyethylene glycol (PEG) to increase their stability in aqueous solution. The resulting PEG-modified CSQDs (PEG-CSQDs) had the emission peak at ~1 550 nm with quantum yield of 7.2%. The animal procedures were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) of Fudan University School of Pharmacy. At 2 h postinjection, PEG-CSQDs clearly delineated the tumor region of mice bearing orthotopic CT26-Luc colon cancer model in the NIR-Ⅱb fluorescence imaging. The fluorescent intensity ratio of primary tumor and adjacent normal tissue was 42.3, and that of metastatic tumor and adjacent normal tissue was 22.3, which allowed to detect the primary tumor of 3.4 mm×2.5 mm in dimension and the metastatic tumor of 1.2 mm×0.9 mm in dimension, and accurately guided the excision of tumors. The PEG-CSQDs prepared in this study provided a new approach for the early diagnosis and guidance of surgical resection of colon cancer.
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) is treated in accordance with symptoms, which is feasible and effective. However, current therapeutic drugs are ineffective against this virus. The development of targeted therapeutic drugs that are based on key proteins in SARS-CoV-2 replication and pathogenesis will provide a more effective means for clinical treatment. In addition, because SARS-CoV-2 is an RNA virus, which typically mutate readily, new drug development against COVID-19 will be a long-term and arduous task. New approaches to drug discovery for COVID-19 treatment using molecular simulation and machine learning algorithms, and based on the key proteins in the process of SARS-CoV-2 adsorption, entry into the host cell and viral replication are discussed herein, and we briefly introduce related work in our laboratory that can provide strategies to promote the discovery of drugs with different mechanisms of action.
Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. At present, there is no specific antiviral drug for this virus, and the main clinical treatment is support and symptomatic treatment. Direct targeting the virus and the host targets are two strategies for the development of antiviral drugs. At present, the research and development of COVID-19 therapeutic drugs has made some progress on both approaches. Here we review potential anti-SARS-CoV-2 drugs to discuss the antiviral mechanisms and potential of these drugs from the perspectives of virus and host. The role of traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of COVID-19 is discussed along with the prospects for drug treatment strategies of COVID-19.
More and more clinical evidence shows that patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) died due to severe complications such as acute respiratory distress syndrome and multiple organ failure due to the aggravation of the disease in the later period, and the main cause of the aggravation is "cytokine storm". There is no specific drug for the treatment of severe COVID-19 patients. Although western medicine can improve some symptoms, it leaves a large sequela, while traditional Chinese medicine plays an important role in this outbreak. In this paper, based on the clinical reported cytokines storm-related indicators, the traditional Chinese medicine systems pharmacology database and analysis platform (TCMSP) was used to mine and screen the traditional Chinese medicines acting on these cytokines based on the theory of "damp toxin invading the lung". It was found that 19 cytokines, including interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα), granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and so on, were closely related to COVID-19, and 22 traditional Chinese medicines such as Ephedrae Herba, Glycyrrhizae Radix Et Rhizoma and Lonicerae Japonicae Flos acted on these cytokines, so as to provide certain reference for the reasonable choice of prescription and addition or modification of drugs for COVID-19 patients in the middle and late stage of Chinese medicine clinical treatment.
Small molecular drugs with large ring structure have recently attracted the attention in medicinal chemistry, the reason is their advantages in improving pharmacological activity and selectivity, and in satisfying drug-like properties. The macrocyclic structure takes into account both the microscopic structure for binding to targets and the macroscopic properties required by the pharmacokinetics. Although macrocyclic drugs historically originated from natural products, in recent years, they have been successfully designed, expanded the chemical space of traditional small molecules, and, to some extent, broken through the well-known the Role of Five in drug innovation. In addition, macrocyclic molecules also pave the path for developing drugs for non-druggability targets and for interfering with protein-protein interaction. This article focuses on the molecular design of macrocyclic drugs with some successful examples, concisely discusses structural optimization of a few macrocyclic natural drugs, and briefly describes stapled peptides in medicinal chemistry.
In recent years, cancer immunotherapy has become an important field of basic and applied researches of cancer immunology. Cancer immunotherapy mainly includes cancer vaccine, oncolytic virus therapy, chimeric antigen receptor T cells (CAR-T cells), immune checkpoint blocks, monoclonal antibodies, and other strategies. Among them, monoclonal antibody-based cancer immunotherapy has the fastest development. In the past 20 years, monoclonal antibody has become one of the drugs with remarkable curative effect and novel type for human malignant tumors, especially the monoclonal antibody targeting immune checkpoints, play an important role in immunotherapy. In this review, we will summarize the current situation of monoclonal antibody-based cancer immunotherapy, potential immune modulatory mechanism, antibody targeting molecules and its immunotherapeutic agents, and explore the trend of monoclonal antibody-based agents in cancer immunotherapy.
Acid-sensing ion channel 1a (ASIC1a) is an ammonia-chlorine-sensitive ligand-gated ion channel, and is widely distributed and expressed in the central and peripheral nervous systems. In a physiological environment, cells maintain a stable pH value around 7.0-7.5 through various transport modes of H+. During the occurrence of some pathological conditions such as allergic asthma, nephritis, arthritis, enteritis, acute lung injury, and other inflammatory diseases, the anaerobic glycolysis of tissue produces H+ accumulation of lactic acid and ATP hydrolysis, resulting in tissue acidification and body fluids. The pH value drops sharply to around 4.0-6.0, which further activates ASIC1a, causing a sharp deterioration of the inflammatory disease. In recent years, targeting ASIC1a may be a potential treatment strategy. This review briefly summarizes the role of ASIC1a in inflammatory diseases and discusses the research progress of ASIC1a in inflammatory diseases.
Chloroquine is a quinine derivative which is synthesized by German scholars in 1934. In addition to its anti-malaria, treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus and immunomodulatory effects, chloroquine is also found valuable in broad-spectrum antiviral treatment. Clinical trials have confirmed that chloroquine has a good effect on acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. In 2019, there were many patients infected with novel coronavirus (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, SARS-CoV-2). Preliminary clinical trials showed that chloroquine had obvious curative effect on patients with SARS-CoV-2. We summarize the effects of chloroquine to different viruses, explain its mechanism, and compare the results of its experiments in vitro and in vivo. The antiviral effect of chloroquine in vivo and in vitro are not consistent, which may be related to the model of animal, dosage and distribution of chloroquine in vivo, and the design of clinical research.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of non-coding single-stranded RNAs involved in the regulation of gene expression found in a wide variety of eukaryotic cells and viruses. Recent studies have shown that some plant-derived miRNAs, which can stably exist in blood, tissues, and organs of animals, play a role in regulating the expression of different target proteins. In this review, we intend to sort out the mechanism of plant miRNA regulation based on the current research, and discuss its application prospects in the mining of miRNA active components of traditional Chinese medicine, small nucleic acid drug development, and drug development using plants as carriers. This can be beneficial to deepen the understanding of plant miRNA regulation, as well as the pharmacological mechanism and biological function of medicinal plants, thus providing new ideas for the prevention or treatment therapies towards human diseases.
Heart failure is a serious public health problem with tens of millions of people suffering from its poor prognosis. Epidemiological studies indicate that its morbidity is rising year by year and its mortality has dramatically increased in recent years, with a trend towards younger people. Although great progress has been achieved in the development of medicine in recent years, finding effective agents against heart failure remains an unconquered area in medicine development. A large number of natural medicines and their bioactive compounds, possessing mild and low toxicity as well as multiple target comprehensive effects, have been implicated in a wide range of pharmacological properties in recovering heart function, reducing energy barriers, and improving the life quality of patients. In recent years, they have been widely applied in clinical treatment for heart failure. Hence, summarizing and elucidating the convincing mechanisms for these natural medicines and their bioactive compounds would provide therapeutic targets and benefits for the treatment against heart failure.
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