ABSTRACT
By using computer-aided drug design, the activities group model which CDK4/6 inhibitors on the market were introduced to silybin C-7, and a series of silybin derivatives were designed and synthesized, and the structure was confirmed by MS, 13C NMR and 1H NMR. The in vitro antitumor activity evaluation of the target compound was carried out by MTT method, and the in vitro anti-tumor activity was carried out in human hepatocellular carcinoma cells (HepG-2). Experimental results show that all compounds are higher than the activity of the parent silybin, of which compound I1 has a certain inhibitory effect on human HepG-2 cells, which is worth further study.
ABSTRACT
Asiatic acid (AA) is a ursane pentacyclic triterpenoids, which possesses a wide range of pharmacological activities, such as anti-tumor, hypoglycemic, anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial. Due to poor solubility and low bioavailability, clinical application of asiatic acid is limited. To address these defects, the structural modifications of AA have been carried out, and large numbers of AA-based derivatives with novel structure and eximious biological activity have been developed. In this paper, the research progress of structural modifications, biological activity, structure-activity relationship and mechanism studies in recent twenty years are reviewed, which provides reference for development of AA-related drugs.
ABSTRACT
Conventional chemotherapy drugs, molecularly targeted drugs, and immune checkpoint inhibitors are the major constituents of anti-tumor drugs in clinical settings at present. Molecularly targeted drugs specifically target the key proteins, genes, or signal transduction pathways in tumor cells which are essential for initiation and development of tumor, resulting in selective activity to induce cell death or growth inhibition. Molecularly targeted drugs have emerged as the mainstream in the research and development of anti-tumor drugs due to its high selectivity and low toxicity. Natural products refer to the chemical constituents or metabolites originated animals, plants, or microorganisms, which have been recognized as one of the important sources of drug discovery with abundant resources and diversified structures. At present, a number of molecularly targeted anti-tumor drugs derived from natural products or their derivatives have been approved for cancer therapy or in clinical trials. This review will summarize the molecularly targeted anti-tumor drugs derived from natural products or their derivatives according to their different cellular targets, and also outline the molecular mechanism, progress, and perspectives of these drugs.
ABSTRACT
Artemisinin and its derivatives have been proved for their anti-tuberculosis activities, despite its low water solubility which hampered its efficacy and corresponding formulation development. In this study we designed and synthesized a novel artemisinin analog by conjugating an arginine through a succinic acid linker. This design not only enhanced the water solubility of the artemisinin, but also increased the efficacy of the molecule towards tuberculosis bacteria due to disruption by arginine. The results showed that the solubility of the synthesized derivatives A-2 and A-3 increased 19.8-27.8 folds compared to artemisinin. In vitro cytotoxicity experiment showed that compound A-3 had negligible toxicity to THP-1 cells up to 1 mg·mL-1, the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of A-2 and A-3 was 20 and 10 μg·mL-1, respectively, which was 5 or 10 times lower than that of artemisinin. Intracellular bacteria inhibition experiment showed that compound A-3 at lower concentrations such as 100 or 200 μg·mL-1 significantly inhibited the growth of tuberculosis bacteria (P<0.05 or P<0.01), which efficacy was stronger than artemisinin at the concentration of 100 μg·mL-1. These results strongly suggested that compound A-3 was a potential anti-tuberculosis lead compound.