Drug screening of rhodanine derivatives for antibacterial activity.

Introduction: Bacteriological infections are a major risk to human health. These include all hospital and public-acquired infections. In drug discovery, rhodanines are privileged heterocyclic frameworks. Their derivatives possess strong anti-bacterial activity and some of them have shown potent activity against multidrug-resistant pathogens, both under in vitro and in vivo conditions. To treat multi-drug resistant pathogens, the development of novel potent drugs, with superior anti-bacterial efficacy, is paramount. One avenue which shows promise is the design and development of novel rhodanines.Areas covered: This review summarizes the status on rhodanine-based derivatives and their anti-bacterial activity, based on published research over the past six years. Furthermore, to facilitate the design of novel derivatives with improved functions, their structure-activity relationships are assessed with reference to their efficacy as anti-bacterial agents and their toxicity.Expert opinion: The pharmacological activity of molecules bearing a rhodanine scaffold needs to be very critically assessed in spite of considerable information available from various biological evaluations. Although, some data on structure-activity relationship frameworks is available, information is not adequate to optimize the efficacy of rhodanine derivatives for different applications.

Synthesis, Molecular Docking Study and in vitro Anticancer Activity of Tetrazole Linked Benzochromene Derivatives.

BACKGROUND: Globally, cancer is regarded as one of the biggest health concern in humans and animals and is one of the most terrifying diseases. Therefore, there is a necessity for the discovery, development and improvement of novel antitumor drug molecules which could efficiently prevent proliferative pathways and clonal expansion of cells. Heterocyclic compounds like benzochromene play a key role in the development of current pharmaceuticals, natural resources, agriculture products, analytical reagents and dyes. Therefore, anticancer drugs show increased resistance, it is essential to designing the novel structured heterocyclic moieties to create potential anticancer agents with promising biological applications. OBJECTIVE: To synthesis a novel 1-(substitutedphenyl)-2-(1H-tetrazol-5-yl)-1H-benzo[f]chromene-3-amine derivatives for in vitro antitumour activity. METHOD: The reaction of 3-amino-1-(substitutedphenyl)-1H-benzo[f]chromene-2-carbonitrile with sodium azide, ammonium chloride in dimethyl formamide solvent under reflux condition for 4 h afforded products (3a-k). The synthesized molecules were subjected to possible potential anti-tumour activity in vitro in four human cancer cell lines (MCF-7, Caco-2, HeLa and SKBR-3), and one human non-cancer cell line (HEK293), using the MTT cell viability assay. RESULTS: A novel series of products (3a-k) were synthesized with good yield and were identified with 1H NMR, 15N NMR, 13C NMR, FT-IR and HR-MS spectrum. The most potent compounds 3d, 3e, and 3f possessing the greatest cytotoxicity activity with IC50 values slightly higher (15-33 µM) than that of 5-Fluorouracil (10-17 µM), indicating their potential to be antitumor agents. The 3a, 3b, 3c, 3h, 3i and 3j compounds showed moderate activity. Additionally, a molecular docking analysis was conducted to predict the multi-drug resistance modulator behavior of synthesized compounds in the ATP binding site of P-glycoprotein. CONCLUSIONS: We synthesized and designated eleven novel derivatives of tetrazole linked benzochromenes (3a-k) and evaluated their anti-cancer activity. Additionally, the results from the docking studies were found to be in good agreement with the results from computational profiling.

New Pyrano[2,3-d:6,5-d']dipyrimidine Derivatives-Synthesis, in vitro Cytotoxicity and Computational Studies.

A new series of pyrano[2,3-d:6,5-d']dipyrimidine derivatives were synthesized and evaluated for their in vitro anticancer activity. The structures of all the synthesized compounds were confirmed by 1H NMR, 13C NMR, 15N NMR, HR-MS and FT-IR spectral analyses. The cytotoxic activities of these compounds against four human cancer (HeLa, SKBR-3, HepG2, and Caco-2) cell lines were determined. The synthesized compounds showed high selectivity, and four compounds (5e, 5f, 5g and 5i) showed excellent potent cytotoxicity against HeLa, SKBR-3, and HepG2 cancer cell lines. Furthermore, four other compounds (5a, 5c, 5b and 5d) have exhibited significant cytotoxicity activity in the SKBR-3 and HepG2 cell lines respectively, with moderate cytotoxicity seen in the HeLa cell line. Additionally, a molecular docking study was conducted to predict the anti-cancer behavior of the synthesized compounds via inhibition of the allosteric site of Human Kinesin Eg5.

Novel serum-tolerant lipoplexes target the folate receptor efficiently.

Gene transfer using non-viral vectors is a promising approach for the safe delivery of nucleic acid therapeutics. In this study, we investigate a lipid-based system for targeted gene delivery to malignant cells overexpressing the folate receptor (FR). Cationic liposomes were formulated with and without the targeting ligand folate conjugated to distearoylphosphatidyl ethanolamine polyethylene glycol 2000 (DSPE-PEG2000), the novel cytofectin 3ß[N(N(1),N(1)-dimethlaminopropylsuccinamidoethane)-carbamoyl]cholesterol (SGO4), which contains a 13atom, 15Å spacer element, and the helper lipid, dioleoylphosphatidylethanolamine (DOPE). Physicochemical parameters of the liposomes and lipoplexes were obtained by zeta sizing, zeta potential measurement and cryo-TEM. DNA-binding and protection capabilities of liposomes were confirmed by gel retardation assays, EtBr intercalation and nuclease protection assays. The complexes were assessed in an in vitro system for their effect on cell viability using the MTT assay, and gene transfection activity using the luciferase assay in three cell lines; HEK293 (FR-negative), HeLa (FR(+)-positive), KB (FR(++)-positive). Low cytotoxicities were observed in all cell lines, while transgene activity promoted by folate-tagged lipoplexes in FR-positive lines was tenfold greater than that by untargeted constructs and cell entry by folate complexes was demonstrably by FR mediation. These liposome formulations have the design capacity for in vivo application and may therefore be promising candidates for further development.