A continuous in silico learning strategy to identify safety liabilities in compounds used in the leather and textile industry.

There is a widely recognized need to reduce human activity's impact on the environment. Many industries of the leather and textile sector (LTI), being aware of producing a significant amount of residues (Keßler et al. 2021; Liu et al. 2021), are adopting measures to reduce the impact of their processes on the environment, starting with a more comprehensive characterization of the chemical risk associated with the substances commonly used in LTI. The present work contributes to these efforts by compiling and toxicologically annotating the substances used in LTI, supporting a continuous learning strategy for characterizing their chemical safety. This strategy combines data collection from public sources, experimental methods and in silico predictions for characterizing four different endpoints: CMR, ED, PBT, and vPvB. We present the results of a prospective validation exercise in which we confirm that in silico methods can produce reasonably good hazard estimations and fill knowledge gaps in the LTI chemical space. The proposed protocol can speed the process and optimize the use of resources including the lives of experimental animals, contributing to identifying potentially harmful substances and their possible replacement by safer alternatives, thus reducing the environmental footprint and impact on human health.

Microwave-assisted synthesis of potent PDE7 inhibitors containing a thienopyrimidin-4-amine scaffold.

A series of novel thienopyrimidin-4-amines have been synthesized and evaluated as phosphodiesterase (PDE) inhibitors. A rationale for the observed selectivity against PDE7 has been obtained from molecular modelling studies on the most active compounds.

Synthesis and evaluation of quinazoline derivatives as phosphodiesterase 7 inhibitors.

The latest scientific findings concerning PDE7 and PDE4 inhibition suggest that selective small-molecule inhibitors of both enzymes could provide a novel approach to treat a variety of immunological diseases. In this context, we describe a new series of quinazoline derivatives from quinazolin-4-thiones which include a substituted biphenyl fragment. Some of these compounds show inhibitory potencies at sub-micromolar levels against the catalytic domain of PDE7.

Drug discovery and chemokine receptor antagonists: eppur si muove!

The blockade of leukocyte migration has been demonstrated to be a valid option for the treatment of several autoimmune diseases. Chemokines play an active role in regulating cell infiltration into inflammatory sites and disrupting chemokine-receptor interactions has emerged as an alternative therapeutic approach. Pharmaceutical companies have developed an intense activity in the drug discovery of chemokine receptor antagonists in the last 10 years. Potent and selective compounds have been obtained and some of them are currently being evaluated in the clinic. The success of these trials will demonstrate whether the blockade of a single receptor is of therapeutic benefit. Alternative approaches, such as pan-receptor antagonists or inhibitors of the signalling pathways evoked by chemokines, are also being explored. In the meantime, new relationships between chemokines and receptors will be revealed, increasing our knowledge of such a fascinating field.