This editorial provides a brief overview of the thematic issue and the papers in it. The thematic issue is proposed to help chemists and biologists track the most recent advances in drug discovery and cancer diagnoses. The process of drug discovery involves the identification and validation of biological targets, the identification and optimization of lead compounds, preclinical development, and clinical

Trichomoniasis, one of the most common non-viral sexually transmitted infections worldwide, is caused by the parasite Trichomonas vaginalis. The pathogen colonizes the human urogenital tract and the infection is associated with complications such as adverse pregnancy outcomes, cervical cancer, and an increase in HIV transmission. The mecha-nisms of pathogenicity are multifactorial, and controlling

BACKGROUND There has been growing interest in the development of highly potent and selective protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTP1B) inhibitors for the past 2-3 decades. Though most PTPs share a common active site motif, the interest on selective inhibitors particularly against PTP1B is increasing to discover new chemical entities as antidiabetic agents. In the current paradigm to find potent and selective

AIM The present work aimed to develop MT loaded solid Nano dispersion by improving its solubility, half-life and bioavailability in biological system thereby this formulation may be afforded economically. BACKGROUND Small cell lung carcinoma is a type of malignant tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in lung tissues. The potent anti-cancer drug methotrexate (MT) chosen for the present work

Tuberculosis (TB) is a devastating disease responsible for millions of individual deaths worldwide. It is caused by a mycobacterial organism, the tubercle bacillus or Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Although TB can be treated, cured and can be prevented if persons take prescribed medicines, scientists have never come close to wiping it out due to a sharp rise in the incidence of multi drug-resistant (MDR)

Tuberculosis (TB) is a major infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium Tuberculosis. As per the World Health Organization (WHO) report of 2019, there were 1.5 million deaths in the year 2018, mainly because of multi- and extended drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR & XDRTB). Among several antitubercular drugs in clinical trials, bedaquiline (TMC207) is a highly promising drug that was approved by the

KRAS mutations are known to be the most recurrent gain-of-function changes instigated in patients with cancer. The RAS gene family is often mutated in most of the human cancers and the pursuit of inhibitors that bind to mutant RAS continues as a foremost target. RAS is a small GTPase that controls numerous cellular functions, consisting of cell proliferation, growth, survival, and gene expression.

Central nervous system (CNS) cancers are among the most common and treatment-resistant diseases. The main reason for low treatment efficiency of the disorders is the barriers against targeted delivery of anticancer agents to the site of interest including the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and blood-brain tumor barrier (BBTB). BBB is a strong biological barrier separating circulating blood from brain extracellular

The nucleotides were discovered in the early 19th century and a few years later the role of such molecules in the energy metabolism and cell survival was postulated. In 1972 a pioneer work by Burnstock and colleagues suggested that ATP could work also a neurotransmitter, which was known as the "purinergic hypothesis". The idea of ATP working as signaling molecule faced initial resistance until the

Introduction: Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) are compounds largely used in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease (PD), Alzheimer’s disease and other neuropsychiatric disorders since they are closely related to the MAO enzymes activity. The two isoforms of the MAO enzymes, MAO-A and MAO-B, are responsible for the degradation of monoamine neurotransmitters and due to this, relevant efforts have

Nanotechnology has revolutionized cancer treatment in both diagnosis and therapy. Since the initial application of nanoparticles (NPs) in cancer treatment, the main objective of nanotechnology was developing effective nanosystems with high selectivity and specificity for cancer treatment and diagnosis. To achieve this, different encapsulation and conjugation strategies along with surface functionalization

Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is a rare genetic disease, which is characterized by non-cancerous tumors in multi-organ systems in the body. Mutations in the TSC1 or TSC2 genes are known to cause the disease. The resultant mutant proteins TSC1 (hamartin) and TSC2 (tuberin) complex evades its normal tumor suppressor function, which leads to abnormal cell growth and proliferation. Both TSC1 and TSC2

The first-ever World Chagas Disease Day, celebrated in April 14, 2020, is a key initiative to raise awareness of the impact of this neglected tropical disease (NTD). This landmark comes along with the first World NTD Day and the new WHO Road Map on NTDs for 2021-2030.

Butterfly-shaped structure, as a novel scaffold with an attractive and certain shape, has been widely used in new drug discovery. Tubulin, composing of α- and β-tubulin heterodimers, plays a key role in mitosis and cell division which are regarded as an excellent target for cancer therapy. Currently, a series of butterfly shape diaryl heterocyclic compounds have been reported with strong potential

Myoferlin (MYOF), as a member of the ferlin family, is a type II transmembrane protein with a single transmembrane domain at the carbon terminus. Studies have shown that MYOF is involved in pivotal physiological functions related to numerous cell membranes, such as extracellular secretion, endocytosis cycle, vesicle trafficking, membrane repair, membrane receptor recycling, and secreted protein efflux

BACKGROUND Bioremediation is a biotechnology field that uses living organisms to remove contaminants from soil and water; therefore, they could be used to treat oil spill from the environment. METHODS Herein, we present a new mechanistic approaches combining Molecular Docking Simulation and Density Functional Theory to modeling the bioremediation-based nanointeractions of a heterogeneous mixture of

Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are stem cells (SCs) that can self-renew and differentiate into a myriad of cell types. The process of developing stemness is determined by signaling molecules that drive stem cells to a specific lineage. For example, ESCs can differentiate into mature cells (e.g., cardiomyocytes) and mature cardiomyocytes can be characterized for cell beating, action potential, and ion

BACKGROUND Glucose-6-phosphate isomerase (G6PI) catalyses the second step in glycolysis in the reversible interconversion of an aldohexose glucose 6-phosphate, a six membered ring moiety to a ketohexose, fructose 6-phosphate five membered ring moiety. This enzyme is of utmost importance due to its multifunctional role like neuroleukin, autocrine motility factor, etc. in various species. G6PI from Pseudomonas

BACKGROUND The increasing and inappropriate use of antibiotics has increased the number of multidrug-resistant microorganisms to these drugs, causing the emergence of infections that are difficult to control and manage by health professionals. As an alternative to combat these pathogens, some monoterpenes have harmful effects on the bacterial cell membrane, showing themselves as an alternative in combating

Modern anticancer drugs target DNA specifically on rapid division of malignant cells. One downside of this approach is that they also target other rapidly dividing healthy cells such as those involved in hair growth leading to serious toxic side effects and hair loss. Therefore, it would be better to develop novel agents that address cellular signalling mechanisms unique to cancerous cells, and new

BACKGROUND Hydrazide-hydrazones have been known as scaffold with various biological activities including inhibition of acetyl- (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE). Cholinesterase inhibitors are mainstays of dementias treatment. OBJECTIVE Twenty-five iodinated hydrazide-hydrazones and their analogues were designed as potential central AChE and BuChE inhibitors. METHODS Hydrazide-hydrazones were

BACKGROUND Development of acetyl- (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) inhibitors belongs to viable strategies for treatment of dementia and other diseases related to decrease in cholinergic neurotransmission. OBJECTIVE That is why we designed twenty-two analogues of a dual AChE-BuChE salicylanilide inhibitor, N-[3,5- bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]-5-bromo-2-hydroxybenzamide 1, to improve its potency

BACKGROUND Targeting the DNA topoisomerase II enzyme (topo II) is a promising anticancer treatment approach. TopoII controls and modifies the topological states of DNA and plays key roles in DNA replication, transcription and chromosome segregation. The DNA binding and cleavage domain is one of the active sites of this enzyme. It is known that topoisomerase inhibitors, also known as topoisomerase poisons

Tuberculosis is one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide and the leading cause of death from a single infectious agent mainly due to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). Recently, clinical prognoses have worsened due to the emergence of multi-drug resistant (MDR) and extensive-drug resistant (XDR) tuberculosis which lead to the need of new, efficient and safely drugs. Among the several strategies,

BACKGROUND Tamoxifen citrate is a very prevalent drug marketed under several trade names like Apo-Tamox, Nolvadex, Tamec, Tamizam and Tamoplex. This molecule is approved by the FDA for breast cancer treatment. Some studies have shown that tamoxifen has anti-tuberculosis and anti-parasitic activities. Like any drug tamoxifen possesses side effects, more or less dangerous. AIMS Basically, this work is

BACKGROUND 1,2,3-triazoles are five-membered heterocyclic scaffold, their large broad-spectrum of biological activities is known. Researchers are being interested in this emerging area throughout the world owing to its immense pharmacological scope. OBJECTIVE This work summarizes the synthesis of 1,2,3-triazoles and their significance of this motif as a lead structure for drug molecules discovery.

BACKGROUND The importance of inhibiting the kinases of the DDR pathway for radiosensitizing cancer cells is well established. Cancer cells exploit these kinases for their survival which leads to the development of resistance towards DNA damaging therapeutics. OBJECTIVE In this article, we focus on targeting the key mediator of the DDR pathway, the ATM kinase. We are reporting a new set of quinoline-3-carboxamides

AIMS To explore essential oil from the bark of Cedrus deodara (CDEO) as an potential anticancer agent. BACKGROUND The frontline drugs against cancer in clinical settings are posing challenges of resistance and other detrimental side-effects. This has led to the exploration of new anticancer chemical entities from natural sources, particularly plant based products such as essential oils that serve as

In the recent past, next-generation sequencing (NGS) approaches have heralded the omics era. With NGS data burgeoning, there arose a need to better disseminate the omic data deluge. Proteogenomics has been vividly used for characterising the functions of candidate genes and are applied in ascertaining various diseased phenotypes including cancers. However, not much is known about the role and application

BACKGROUND Metal nanomaterials are widely used in various fields including targeted therapy and diagnosis. They are extensively in targeted drug delivery and local treatments. However, the toxicity associated with these materials could lead to severe adverse health effects. METHODS In this study, we investigated the relationships between the toxicity and structures of metal nanoparticles by using theoretical

Nanotechnology has recently provided exciting platforms in the field of anticancer research with promising potentials for improving the drug delivery efficacy and treatment outcomes. Nanoparticles (NPs) possess different advantages over the micro and bulk therapeutic agents, including their capability to carry high payloads of drugs, with prolonged half-life, reduced toxicity of the drugs, and increased

BACKGROUND Surgery remains the front-line therapeutic strategy to treat early hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), however the 5-year recurrence rates of HCC patients are high. 10-Hydroxycamptothecin (10-HCPT) is known anti-HCC agent but its poor solubility and bioavailability have limited its clinical use. AIM In this study, we developed a novel nanoliposome encapsulated 10-hydroxycamptothecin modified