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There are more than 60 million alcoholic liver disease (ALD) patients in China, which has become a public health problem that cannot be ignored. Moreover, the social problem of "alcohol culture" is still hardly to solve, so that safe and effective prevention and treatment for ALD are in urgent need clinically. Previous studies on ALD have focused on the direct damaging effects of alcohol and its toxic metabolites, while recent studies have shown that the pathogenesis of ALD also include alcohol metabolic reprogramming and endogenous metabolites disorder. Although the endogenous metabolites have no direct toxicity, its long-term effect should not be ignored. These endogenous metabolites could change epigenetic modifications, cause widespread and persistent abnormal gene expression and signal pathway activation abnormally to promote metabolic reprogramming and stamp it as "metabolic memory", which manifest pathological changes and promote ALD, especially liver fibrosis/cirrhosis and liver cancer. Based on this, the article reviews the important epigenetic modifications caused by related metabolites in ALD and their associated effects. The role of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and its active ingredients in regulating epigenetics was also analyzed. The results suggest that regulation of epigenetics and alteration of "metabolic memory" may be a novel mechanism of TCM in the prevention and treatment of ALD.
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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.
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Premature ejaculation (PE) is the most common male sexual dysfunction with a high incidence, which seriously affects the relationship between a husband and wife and family harmony. Drug therapy is a first-line treatment for PE patients with premature ejaculation, and has achieved good efficacy, but the clinically available drugs are single and the abandonment rate is high. Coupled with the ineffective treatment of some patients, new drug research and development is imminent. This paper systematically reviews the current status of drug treatment for premature ejaculation, focusing on the research and development of new drugs and research progress in order to provide a reference for clinicians.
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Compared with other drug-resistant strains, Acinetobacter baumannii has the characteristics of serious drug resistance, high mortality and difficulty to treat. As the phenomena of resistance to existing anti-Acinetobacter baumannii drugs continuously occurs, the development of new anti-Acinetobacter baumannii drugs is urgent. This review introduces the clinical application and research progress of anti-Acinetobacter baumannii drugs, aiming to provide help for the research and development of anti-Acinetobacter baumannii drugs.
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@#Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI), a label-free molecular imaging technique, has been applied widely in the spatial localization of small molecule metabolites, lipids, peptides, and proteins, with its unique advantage of high spatial resolving power compared to traditional liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS).With the nonstop advancement of its achievable sensitivity and spatial resolution, MSI technique has been providing novel perspectives into the preclinical studies of drugs, such as in vivo localization of drugs and their metabolites, visualization of drug metabolism, and drug delivery tracking.This review introduces the basics of MSI techniques, including basic principles, key features, technical advantages, and limitations, with particular highlight of the recent applications of MSI in drug efficacy and safety evaluation, drug distribution research, drug delivery research, and analysis of Chinese medicine from recent publications, aiming to promote the utilization and further expansion of MSI in the research and development of drugs.
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Emerging evidence has demonstrated the vital role of metabolism in various diseases or disorders. Metabolomics provides a comprehensive understanding of metabolism in biological systems. With advanced analytical techniques, metabolomics exhibits unprecedented significant value in basic drug research, including understanding disease mechanisms, identifying drug targets, and elucidating the mode of action of drugs. More importantly, metabolomics greatly accelerates the drug development process by predicting pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and drug response. In addition, metabolomics facilitates the exploration of drug repurposing and drug-drug interactions, as well as the development of personalized treatment strategies. Here, we briefly review the recent advances in technologies in metabolomics and update our knowledge of the applications of metabolomics in drug research and development.
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With the advances in medicine, people have deeply understood the complex pathogenesis of diseases. Revealing the mechanism of action and therapeutic effect of drugs from an overall perspective has become the top priority of drug design. However, the traditional drug design methods cannot meet the current needs. In recent years, with the rapid development of systems biology, a variety of new technologies including metabolomics, genomics, and proteomics have been used in drug research and development. As a bridge between traditional pharmaceutical theory and modern science, computer-aided drug design(CADD) can shorten the drug development cycle and improve the success rate of drug design. The application of systems biology and CADD provides a methodological basis and direction for revealing the mechanism and action of drugs from an overall perspective. This paper introduces the research and application of systems biology in CADD from different perspectives and proposes the development direction, providing reference for promoting the application.
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Humans , Systems Biology , Drug Design , Drug Development , Genomics , MedicineABSTRACT
Existing traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)-related databases are still insufficient in data standardization, integrity and precision, and need to be updated urgently. Herein, an Encyclopedia of Traditional Chinese Medicine version 2.0 (ETCM v2.0, http://www.tcmip.cn/ETCM2/front/#/) was constructed as the latest curated database hosting 48,442 TCM formulas recorded by ancient Chinese medical books, 9872 Chinese patent drugs, 2079 Chinese medicinal materials and 38,298 ingredients. To facilitate the mechanistic research and new drug discovery, we improved the target identification method based on a two-dimensional ligand similarity search module, which provides the confirmed and/or potential targets of each ingredient, as well as their binding activities. Importantly, five TCM formulas/Chinese patent drugs/herbs/ingredients with the highest Jaccard similarity scores to the submitted drugs are offered in ETCM v2.0, which may be of significance to identify prescriptions/herbs/ingredients with similar clinical efficacy, to summarize the rules of prescription use, and to find alternative drugs for endangered Chinese medicinal materials. Moreover, ETCM v2.0 provides an enhanced JavaScript-based network visualization tool for creating, modifying and exploring multi-scale biological networks. ETCM v2.0 may be a major data warehouse for the quality marker identification of TCMs, the TCM-derived drug discovery and repurposing, and the pharmacological mechanism investigation of TCMs against various human diseases.
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Majority of patients visiting Ayurvedic hospitals are having ailments related to joints especially low back pain and knee joint pain. Low back ache may be due to many reasons ranges from muscular pain to complicated neurological complaints or malignancy. Disc herniation is also a major reason for low back ache in which radiculopathy might be a typical feature. In all systems of medicine many treatments exist to manage low back ache and sciatica. In Ayurveda also different treatment modalities are present ranging from simple internal medications to complex therapies like Basti (therapeutic enema), to effectively tackle such conditions. The Ayurvedic formulation, Rasna guggulu is mentioned in the treatment of Gridrasi (sciatica). To standardize any formulation its properties should be studied repeatedly in detail. Even though this formulation is comparatively a simpler one consisting of only 3 ingredients, its properties and identifying features are not widely studied. In this study pharmacognostical, organoleptic and physico-chemical characteristics of Rasna guggulu were reported. Pharmacognostical study of this drug reveals the presence of epidermal cells, starch grain, lignified stone cells, prismatic crystals, simple fiber, simple trichome, warty trichome, annular vessels and spiral vessels of Rasna along with oil globules of clarified butter. HPTLC shows 8 and 7 spots at 254nm and 366nm respectively which suggests the presence of 7 – 8 active principles in this drug. This study also can be considered to standardize the formulation, Rasna guggulu.
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Hemophilia is the only rare hereditary hemorrhagic disorder included in the First Rare Diseases catalogue. However, rare bleeding diseases identified in the clinic are far more common than hemophilia. Most other rare hemorrhagic disorders have less effective treatment than hemophilia. Hemophilia has a history of successful drug development in rare hemorrhagic diseases, and the cycle between clinical research and drug development has been gradually realized. Drug research and pharmaceutical companies can refer to the drug research and development process in the field of hemophilia, learn from the experience of hemophilia drug research and develop treatments. The industry can increase drug development by strengthening basic research, focusing on the value of natural history research, the application of quantitative pharmacological tools and improving the efficiency of drug development to meet the urgent unmet medical needs of patients with rare hemorrhagic diseases.
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Cholesterol is an important lipid component in the body, which not only participates in the formation of cell membranes, but also is the raw material for the synthesis of bile acids and steroid hormones. Low density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) is involved in cholesterol metabolism and plays an important role in maintaining the cholesterol homeostasis of organism cells. The expression of LDLR is precisely regulated by transcription, post-transcription and post-translation, and the imbalance of ldlr expression will lead to the occurrence and development of many diseases. In this paper, the molecular regulation mechanism of LDLR, the damage of target organs caused by the imbalance of LDLR expression and the research and development progress of drugs targeting LDLR are reviewed, which provides theoretical basis for further understanding of the progress of diseases related to lipid metabolism disorder and new insights for developing drugs targeting LDLR with more effective and less side effects.
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Due to the infinite proliferation， strong migration and loss of contact inhibition of tumor cells， tumor has become the most intractable diseases to be cured in the world. At present， the main treatments of tumor diseases are surgical resection， radiotherapy， chemotherapy， targeted-therapy and immunotherapy. Although these measures can inhibit or kill the tumor to a certain extent， they still cannot avoid adverse reactions and drug resistance. After thousands of years of clinical practice， traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） has the characteristics of good curative effect， few adverse reactions and significantly improving the quality of life in patients， which provides new ideas for the prevention and treatment of tumors. As an endemic and rare plant in China， Tetrastigma hemsleyanum has been listed in the 2015 edition of Zhejiang Provincial Processing Specification of TCM with the effects of heat-clearing and detoxification， detumescence and analgesia， dissipating phlegm and resolving masses. It has been reported that the chemical constituents of T. hemsleyanum are mainly flavonoids， polysaccharides， phenolic acids， terpenoids， steroids， volatile oils， alkaloids and so on. It can exert a broad spectrum of anti-tumor effects through various ways such as inhibiting proliferation， migration and invasion of tumor cells， inducing apoptosis of tumor cells， inhibiting angiogenesis of tumor cells， reversing multidrug resistance of tumor cells and regulating body autoimmunity. On the basis of reviewing relevant literature at home and abroad， this paper intends to systematically sort out the chemical and anti-tumor research of T. hemsleyanum， and in order to provide a new idea for its synergistic anti-tumor effect of multi-component， multi-pathway and multi-target， and finally provide theoretical basis for the research and development and clinical application of new anti-tumor drugs of T. hemsleyanum.
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As lung cancer targeted therapy and immunotherapy drugs are the current hot spot in the research and development area of new anti-tumor drugs, the amount of clinical trial in this area is increasing year by year. On the basis of combing the on-site inspections of drug registration clinical trials from 2019 to 2021, combined with the characteristics of lung cancer targeted therapy and immunotherapy drugs, this paper discusses the focus of on-site inspection of clinical trials of such drugs, and puts forward suggestions for the compliant implementation of lung cancer clinical trials. .
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Humans , Antineoplastic Agents/therapeutic use , Immunologic Factors/therapeutic use , Immunotherapy , Lung Neoplasms/drug therapy , Molecular Targeted TherapyABSTRACT
@#The progress of molecular biology and tumor biology has greatly changed the mode of cancer treatment. A large number of scientific studies have revealed the mechanism of tumor immune evasion, and a variety of new types of tumor immunotherapy have emerged, which has become another effective treatment of cancer after surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and targeted therapy. This paper introduces the mechanism of tumor cell immune evasion, and focuses on the design principle, biological drugs and the latest research progress of immunotherapy, such as cytokine immunotherapies, therapeutic monoclonal antibody immunotherapy, PD-1/PD-L1 therapy, CAR-T therapy, tumor vaccine, oncolytic virus and so on. At the same time, the advantages and disadvantages of various immunotherapies are compared to provide reference for drug research and development in tumor immunotherapy.
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Realtime xCELLigence analysis (RTCA) is a new cell detection technology to continuously monitor, record and analyze a variety of information generated by cell activity. In drug research, it plays an important role in assessing myocardial toxicity and cell biological activity. Here, we first introduce the underlying mechanisms and characteristics of RTCA. Then we review the applications of RTCA in the research of myocardial toxicity and cell biological activity, to provides the fundamental baseline for understanding and exploiting RTCA. With the real-time, unlabeled, non-invasive, high throughput, and high accuracy features, RTCA not only promotes drug research and development, but also has a broad and good application prospect in other fields.
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Pharmaceutical PreparationsABSTRACT
Single-cell transcriptome sequencing(scRNA-seq) can be used to analyze the expression characteristics of the transcriptome at the level of individual cell, and discover the heterogeneity of gene expression in individual cell that is "diluted" or averaged in study of group organization. The scRNA-seq, with the characteristics of standardization, high-throughput, and high integration, can greatly simplify the experimental operation and significantly reduce the consumption of reagents. At the same time, a variety of cells are screened and the gene expression patterns are analyzed at the single-cell level to provide a more efficient detection technique and more rich and accurate information for drug research. In the field of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM), the scRNA-seq is still a new technology, but the individual and precision concepts embodied by scRNA-seq and the theory of TCM syndrome differentiation and treatment have reached the same effect between the micro and macro aspects. This study tried to broaden the thinking for the modernization of TCM by introducing the development of scRNA-seq technology and its application in modern drug research and discussing the application prospects of scRNA-seq in TCM research.
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Gene Expression Profiling , Medicine, Chinese Traditional , Reference Standards , Sequence Analysis, RNA , Single-Cell Analysis , TranscriptomeABSTRACT
At the end of 2019,an outbreak of 2019 new coronavirus infectious disease (COVID-19) in Wuhan spread rapidly in China and reported cases in other countries.The number of infected cases and deaths quickly exceeded Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in a short period of time,resulting in incalculable losses to China.Chinese researchers have quickly identified the pathogen,2019-nCoV (or SARS-CoV-2 or HCoV-19) and carried out the research and development of antiviral drugs at different levels.This article briefly reviews the current advancement of research and development of new therapeutics against 2019-nCoV infection.Given that the progress of research and development of antiviral drugs against the emerging and reemerging pathogens is relatively backwarded,we suggest that the research and development of antivirals against pathogens with pandemic or epidemic potential should be carried out in advance before the occurrence of the outbreaks. At the national level,we should promote the research and development of broad-spectrum antivirals and clinical trials to combat the pathogens with epidemic risk.
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The experienced prescriptions of famous prestigious Chinese physicians are effective prescriptions developed by prestigious Chinese doctors during their long-time clinical practice, which reflect the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) understanding of the disease development regularity and core pathogenesis. These experienced prescriptions provide valuable experience for medication and prescription regularities, and represent the highest level of TCM treatment and the major sources of new drug research, development and technology innovation. It is of great significance to inherit academic thoughts and clinical experiences of prestigious Chinese physicians, explore and summarize experienced prescriptions, and develop new Chinese drugs. The researches of new drugs based on experienced prescriptions are the major direction encouraged by the government, with the maximum amount of new TCM drug applications but a low approval rate in recent years. The main reason for the low number of approved new TCM drug applications is that researchers know less about evaluation concepts and relevant techniques, leading to problems in research and development strategy. To facilitate a smooth advance of the new drug research and development and take full advantage of the experienced prescriptions, in this paper, we focus on the problems about new drug development of experienced prescriptions, lay emphasis on the new TCM drug research and development concepts of clinical value, history of human application and whole-process quality control, and deeply and systematically analyze concerns in such links as pharmacy, pharmacodynamics, toxicology and clinic application. The purpose of this article is to provide the reference in solving actual problems, the reliable basis of further researches on experienced prescriptions, and the important guarantee for developing more safe, effective and high-quality controllable drugs to meets clinical requirements, so as to achieve the strategy of a healthy China.
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Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease ( NAFLD), a clinical metabolic stress-induced liver injury, is expressed as a feature of intrahepatic cell steatosis and excessive fatty deposition. NAFLD is a rising cause of common chronic liver disease worldwide. However, due to the lack of idealized NAFLD experimental models, the pathogenesis of NAFLD remains to be elucidated and consequently the research and development of therapeutic drugs against NAFLD has been making a relatively slow progress. Therefore, the establishment of cell and animal models is of great significance for exploring its pathogenesis and screening relevant experimental drugs. In this paper, the experimental models involved in NAFLD are reviewed and its advantages and disadvantages are evaluated further in vitro and in vivo, which provides a sufficient theoretical basis and model selection for the investigation and development of innovative drugs against NAFLD.
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This article is to investigate the role of international academic communication of pharmacology in scientific and technological innovation. The object, the organization mode and the characteristics of international conferences of pharmacology, as well as their effects on pharmacology, were researched and analyzed. As shown in the text, international academic communication plays a key role in promoting scientific and technological development, such as pharmacological theory and technological creativity, new drug research and development, talents cultivation , etc. On the basis of the analysis, this paper suggests how to promote scientific and technological innovation, talents cultivation, and international discourse power through international academic exchange.