Decoding the Mechanism of Drugs of Heterocyclic Nature against Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

OBJECTIVES: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the sixth most common type of cancer and accounts for ~90% of cases, with an approximated incidence of >1 million cases by 2025. Currently, the backbone of HCC therapy is the oral multi-kinase inhibitor, Sorafenib, which consists of a Pyridine heterocycle ring system. This review highlights the introspective characteristics of seven anticancer drugs of heterocyclic nature against HCC along with their structural activity relationships and molecular targets. METHODS: Literature collection was performed using PubMed, Google Scholar, SCOPUS, and Cross ref. Additional information was taken from the official website of the FDA and GLOBOCAN. Key findings/ Results: Based on the available literature, approved heterocyclic compounds show promising results against HCC, including Sorafenib (Pyridine), Regorafenib (Pyridine), Lenvatinib (Quinoline), Cabozantinib (Quinoline), Gemcitabine (Pyrimidine), 5-Fluorouracil (Pyrimidine)and Capecitabine (Pyrimidine), their mechanism of action and key aspects regarding its structural activity were included in the review. CONCLUSION: Heterocyclic compounds represent almost two-thirds of the novel drugs approved by FDA between 2010 and 2020 against Cancer. This review summarizes the clinical relevance, mechanism of action, structural activity relationship, and challenges of the seven available anticancer drugs with heterocyclic ring systems against HCC.

In vitro antioxidant, antimicrobial, cytotoxic potential of gold and silver nanoparticles prepared using Embelia ribes.

In recent years, the green synthesis of gold (GNPs) and silver (SNPs) nanoparticles has gained great interest among chemists and researchers. The present study reports an eco-friendly, cost-effective, rapid and easy method for the synthesis of gold and silver nanoparticles using the seed extract of Embelia ribes (SEEr) as capping and reducing agent. The synthesised GNPs and SNPs were characterised using the following techniques: UV-vis spectroscopy, DLS, HR-TEM, FT-IR and XRD. The free radical scavenging potential of GNPs and SNPs was measured by DPPH assay and Phosphomolybdenum assay. Further, the antimicrobial activity against two micro-organisms were tested using disc diffusion method and cytotoxicity of GNPs and SNPs was determined against MCF-7 cell lines at different concentrations by MTT assay. Both the GNPs and SNPs prepared from E. ribes comparatively showed promising results thereby proving their clinical importance.