ABSTRACT
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common degenerative disease of the motor system with a high morbidity and disability rate. The pathogenesis of OA is not clear at present. Previous studies believe that the pathogenesis of OA is mainly related to trauma factors, while recent studies have shown that metabolic factors, including abnormal cholesterol metabolism, are also closely related to OA. The treatment of OA is mainly symptomatic treatment at the early stage and surgical treatment at the late stage, and there is no specific drug. Previously, BNTA, a small molecule drug with cartilage protective effects, has been shown to have a good effect on OA caused by trauma, but its effect on OA caused by high cholesterol remains unclear. In order to explore the therapeutic effect of BNTA on OA caused by high cholesterol and its mechanism, the OA model of rats was constructed by adopting high cholesterol diets, and paraffin sections of knee joints were taken for histological evaluation. Lipid accumulation in chondrocytes of rats was assessed by oil red O staining. The expression of genes and proteins related to anabolism, catabolism and cholesterol metabolism in chondrocytes was assessed by RT-qPCR, immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry. The results showed that BNTA could alleviate OA pathological manifestations and improve the OARSI (Osteoarthritis Research Society International) score in the OA model of high cholesterol rats. In rat chondrocytes, BNTA can promote the expression of anabolism-related genes col2, sox9 and acan, inhibit the expression of catabolism-related genes mmp13 and adamts5, and improve the lipid accumulation caused by high cholesterol in rat chondrocytes. BNTA can up-regulate Insig1 expression in rat chondrocytes and the OA model of high cholesterol rats. This study confirmed that high cholesterol can aggravate OA in vivo and in vitro, and can increase lipid accumulation in rat chondrocytes. Taken together, BNTA can alleviate OA phenotypes induced by high cholesterol and improve abnormal lipid accumulation in chondrocytes, possibly by inhibiting cholesterol biosynthesis in cells by upregulating Insig1, thereby alleviating abnormal lipid accumulation.
ABSTRACT
In order to improve the efficacy or reduce the side effects, the combination of two or more drugs is often used in clinical practice, which often brings new medication problems that change the process or efficacy of a drug in vivo due to combination. This article reviews the clinical drug-drug interaction (DDI) researches of 44 novel molecular entities which were approved to be launched in China from January 2000 to March 2021. Among them, clinical DDI trials based on test drugs as substrates of the metabolic enzymes (11/44) especially as the substrates of CYP3A4 (7/11) are dominant. The results show that most of test drugs were CYP3A4 substrates with a moderate or lower sensitivity, and no highly sensitive substrates were found. The second is the clinical DDI trials based on synergy or reducing side effects, which mainly focus on the fields of tumors, diabetes, and viral infections, and these studies have not shown pharmacokinetic interactions with clinical significance. The DDI trials of test drugs as metabolic enzyme modulators account for 7/44. And transporter-based DDI trials are relatively rare and most of them are in vitro studies. With the in-depth study of drug metabolism/transport mechanisms in vivo and in vitro, especially the development of clinical trials of radioisotope-labeled drugs and computer simulations, the overall level of DDI research in China is gradually improving, which will provide a solid scientific foundation to ensure drug safety.
ABSTRACT
Identification of the target proteins of small molecule drugs is crucial for understanding the mechanisms of drug actions and its side effects. Conventional methods require chemical modification, which might alter the activities of the drugs. Various label-free techniques have been developed to identify drug target proteins without chemical modifications. This includes drug affinity responsive target stability (DARTS), stability of proteins from rates of oxidation (SPROX), cellular thermal shift assay (CETSA), thermal proteome profiling (TPP) and many others. Here we review the principles and applications of these label-free techniques, their advantages and limitations, as well as the most recent advances.
Subject(s)
Drug Delivery Systems , Pharmaceutical Preparations , ProteinsABSTRACT
Objective::Bioinformatic analysis was used to compare the gene expression profile between asthma patients and healthy people, and the gene characteristics of asthma were preliminarily identified and the potential mechanism and drugs were revealed. Method::The GSE74986 gene expression profile was downloaded from the gene expression omnibus (GEO) and the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were analyzed by GEO2R. Then the gene heat map of DEGs was made by Morpheus, and their gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) analysis were performed by DAVID 6.8. Moreover, the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network and hub genes were constructed by String 10.5. Finally, the significant modules were analyzed by MCODE in Cytoscape 3.6.1, small molecule drugs related to asthma were screened through Coremine Medical. Result::A total of 510 DEGs were screened, including 29 up-regulated genes and 481 down-regulated genes. DEGs were mainly involved in these biological processes and pathways, including chromatin silencing, transcriptional regulation of RNA polymerase Ⅱ promoter, protein transport, messenger RNA (mRNA) processing, RNA splicing, ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis, protein processing in the endoplasmic reticulum, RNA transport, and myeloid differentiation factor (MyD)-dependent Toll-like receptor signaling pathway, platelet activation, nucleotide binding oligomerization domain (NOD)-like receptor signaling pathway and so on. A total of 9 hub genes were obtained, including T-complex protein 1 subunit theta (CCT8), T-complex protein 1 subunit alpha (TCP1), 26S protease regulatory subunit S10B (PSMC6), heat shock protein 90 alpha (HSP90A)A1, cell cycle protein C (CCNC), HSP90AB1, 26S proteasome non-ATPase regulatory subunit 6 (PSMD6), ubiquitin-specific protease 14 (USP14) and eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E (EIF4E). Two important modules were obtained. The genes in two modules mainly involved these biological process, such as splice, ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis, protein modification, RNA modification and so on. Some potential molecular drugs for the treatment of asthma, such as anisomycin and genistein, have been developed. Conclusion::DEGs and hub genes can contribute to understanding the molecular mechanism of asthma and providing potential therapeutic targets and drugs for the diagnosis and treatment of asthma.
ABSTRACT
Necrotizing enterocolitis(NEC) is the most common disease of gastrointestinal tract in neonate,and is an important cause of neonatal death,especially in premature. Its pathogenesis has not be clear and tends to be multifactorial,leading to the lack of effective prevention and treatment strategies. With the de-velopment of neonatal intensive care unit and the gradually improvement of the nursing level,the diagnostic detection rate of NEC has increased significantly. In addition to conventional surgery and conservative treat-ment,the research and development of new drugs targeting at NEC has been carried out in-depth,including octreotide,erythropoietin,amino acid and all trans retinoic acid. Through the analysis and summary of the mechanism and clinical application of these small-molecule drugs in the treatment of NEC,this review aimed at retrospecting the research progress of NEC drug treatment in recent years to provide relevant background knowledge for clinical prevention,treatment and drug research and development of NEC.
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Neurotoxicity is one common adverse effect caused by many drugs or compounds.In the early phase of new drug development,it is necessary to screen for neurotoxicants.Neurotoxicity studies in nonhuman primates (NHP) are used to evaluate the neurotoxicity of small-molecule drugs or vaccines that may affect the nervous system across the blood-brain barrier during preclinical safety assessment.Toxicologic pathological evaluation or neuropathological examination is the "gold standard" for the evaluation of drug neurotoxicity in preclinical drug safety studies.In this paper,the majory factors influencing the quality of neuropathology evaluation in toxicology,including the general strategy of neuropathology evaluation,the optimal timing of evaluation,the specific blood-brain barrier in the nervous system,the method of sampling in the histopathology of nerve tissue,and the interference of artificial artifacts in diagnosis of neuropathology,were detailly analyzed in order to provide a reference for setting guidelines of neurotoxicity risk assessment in China and pathologists and toxicologists engaged in nonclinical neurotoxicity studies.
ABSTRACT
With the development of science and the progress of age,medicinal chemistry is not only limited to the lead discovery and the structure-activity relationship studies,but also finding the target of bioactive small molecule drugs has be-come a tough issue to be solved.The identification and validation of bioactive small molecule targets has become the most criti-cal and difficult task,which plays a decisive role in academic and pharmaceutical research.Herein we summarize the current methods for target identification of small molecules,and mainly discuss about the target identification method by the chemical probes.Recent cases of successful application were also introduced to demonstrate the strategy of probe synthesis and design.