Ping Zeng, Xuemei Yang, K. Wong, Sheng Chen, Kin-Fai Chan, S. Leung, Lanhua Yi
{"title":"A dextrorotatory residues-incorporated bioactive dodecapeptide against enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli","authors":"Ping Zeng, Xuemei Yang, K. Wong, Sheng Chen, Kin-Fai Chan, S. Leung, Lanhua Yi","doi":"10.37349/eds.2023.00014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37349/eds.2023.00014","url":null,"abstract":"Aim: This study aims to report an engineered peptide zp39 with favorable bioactivity against enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (E. coli, EHEC). Its antibacterial mechanisms and application in a real food system are assessed.\u0000Methods: Spatial conformation of synthetic peptide zp39 (GIIAGIIiKIKk-NH2, lowercase letters indicate dextrorotatory amino acids) was predicted by PEPstrMOD and its secondary structure was further determined by circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy. Then, standard E. coli O157:H7 strain ATCC 43888 was used to evaluate the bioactivity of zp39. A double dilution method was applied to investigate its efficacy in normal broth medium, serum, and highly saline conditions. Its effects on cell membrane permeability and potential were measured by fluorescent assays. Thereafter, morphological changes of E. coli O157:H7 cells were monitored by electron microscopy technologies. Finally, the potential application of zp39 in controlling EHEC in food was tested with spinach juice and the Galleria mellonella larvae model was employed to assess the in vivo efficacy.\u0000Results: Peptide zp39 presented an amphiphilic helical structure. It effectively inhibited the growth of E. coli O157:H7 at a concentration of 4 μmol/L in a bactericidal mode. Mechanistic studies revealed that it affected membrane permeability and potential in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, zp39 maintained satisfactory bioactivity against E. coli O157:H7 even in the presence of 70% serum or 1,000 μmol/L chloride salts. In spinach juice application, > 90% E. coli O157:H7 cells were killed within 2 h after exposure to 64 μmol/L zp39. In vivo study proved that treatment with 64 μmol/L zp39 could effectively boost the survival ratio of infected larvae by 50%.\u0000Conclusions: This study depicts a synthetic dodecapeptide that shows the potential application in controlling EHEC. This molecule may be developed into a highly effective antimicrobial agent applied to prevent food contamination and associated infections.","PeriodicalId":72998,"journal":{"name":"Exploration of drug science","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83172877","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
R. Takjoo, David T. Wilson, P. Bansal, A. Loukas, M. Smout, N. Daly
{"title":"Identification of an inter-cysteine loop potentially involved in the activity of Opisthorchis viverrini-granulin-1","authors":"R. Takjoo, David T. Wilson, P. Bansal, A. Loukas, M. Smout, N. Daly","doi":"10.37349/eds.2023.00012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37349/eds.2023.00012","url":null,"abstract":"Aim: Identification of small bioactive regions in proteins and peptides can be useful information in drug design studies. The current study has shown that an inter-cysteine loop of the N-terminal domain of Opisthorchis viverrini granulin-1 (Ov-GRN-1), a granulin protein from the flatworm liver fluke Opisthorchis viverrini which has potent wound healing properties, maintains the bioactivity of the full-length protein.\u0000Methods: Peptides corresponding to the three inter-cysteine loops of the N-terminal domain were produced using synthetic chemistry, and their structures and bioactivities were analyzed using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and cell proliferation assays, respectively.\u0000Results: As expected for such small peptides, NMR analysis indicated that the peptides were poorly structured in solution. However, a seven-residue peptide corresponding to loop 2 (GRN-L2) promoted cell proliferation, in contrast to the other fragments.\u0000Conclusions: The results from the current study suggest that GRN-L2 might be responsible, in part, for the bioactivity of Ov-GRN-1, and might be a useful lead molecule for subsequent wound healing studies.","PeriodicalId":72998,"journal":{"name":"Exploration of drug science","volume":"18 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80991920","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Nature-inspired and medicinally relevant short peptides","authors":"M. G. Ciulla, M. Civera, S. Sattin, Kamal Kumar","doi":"10.37349/eds.2023.00011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37349/eds.2023.00011","url":null,"abstract":"Peptides constitute an important component of Nature’s pharmacy and they play a significant role in several signaling pathways acting as natural biological messengers. While nature has mastered the cycle of creation, application, and destruction of large and short peptides to the benefit of the host organism, organic and medicinal chemists have in their capacity and small steps, made big developments in the field of peptide synthesis as well as in developing them as therapeutics. In comparison to their big counterparts, i.e. proteins, short peptides encompass several advantages, from the ease of synthesis to their physico-chemical properties. However, the real challenge for in vivo application of therapeutic peptides is to overcome their low plasma availability and their fast enzymatic degradation. This review briefly covers the relevant areas of medicinally important short peptides and the recent developments made to turn these peptides into therapeutics. Also presented in this article are important efforts and strategies used to overcome some of the inherent limitations of peptidic molecules and thereby facilitate their progression in the clinical phases towards approved drugs.","PeriodicalId":72998,"journal":{"name":"Exploration of drug science","volume":"220 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88025246","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kevin Crampon, Alexis Giorkallos, X. Vigouroux, S. Baud, L. Steffenel
{"title":"Heterogeneous graph convolutional neural network for protein-ligand scoring","authors":"Kevin Crampon, Alexis Giorkallos, X. Vigouroux, S. Baud, L. Steffenel","doi":"10.37349/eds.2023.00010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37349/eds.2023.00010","url":null,"abstract":"Aim: Drug discovery is a long process, often taking decades of research endeavors. It is still an active area of research in both academic and industrial sectors with efforts on reducing time and cost. Computational simulations like molecular docking enable fast exploration of large databases of compounds and extract the most promising molecule candidates for further in vitro and in vivo tests. Structure-based molecular docking is a complex process mixing both surface exploration and energy estimation to find the minimal free energy of binding corresponding to the best interaction location.\u0000Methods: Hereafter, heterogeneous graph score (HGScore), a new scoring function is proposed and is developed in the context of a protein-small compound-complex. Each complex is represented by a heterogeneous graph allowing to separate edges according to their class (inter- or intra-molecular). Then a heterogeneous graph convolutional network (HGCN) is used allowing the discrimination of the information according to the edge crossed. In the end, the model produces the affinity score of the complex.\u0000Results: HGScore has been tested on the comparative assessment of scoring functions (CASF) 2013 and 2016 benchmarks for scoring, ranking, and docking powers. It has achieved good performances by outperforming classical methods and being among the best artificial intelligence (AI) methods.\u0000Conclusions: Thus, HGScore brings a new way to represent protein-ligand interactions. Using a representation that involves classical graph neural networks (GNNs) and splitting the learning process regarding the edge type makes the proposed model to be the best adapted for future transfer learning on other (protein-DNA, protein-sugar, protein-protein, etc.) biological complexes.","PeriodicalId":72998,"journal":{"name":"Exploration of drug science","volume":"50 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85736473","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kun Liu, Qixin Mo, Z. Ding, Shicong Lai, Jian Ren, Qingsong Yu
{"title":"Nano theranostics involved in bladder cancer treatment","authors":"Kun Liu, Qixin Mo, Z. Ding, Shicong Lai, Jian Ren, Qingsong Yu","doi":"10.37349/eds.2023.00008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37349/eds.2023.00008","url":null,"abstract":"Bladder cancer (BC) is a complex disease with multiple clinical manifestations and treatment challenges, and current standard-of-care therapies remain limited and unfavorable. Theranostics, the integration of diagnostic and therapeutic technologies, has emerged as a promising strategy to address these challenges. The rapid development of nanomedicine has been a source of hope for the improvement of BC therapies and diagnostics by reducing side effects, enhancing tumor suppression, and overcoming drug resistance. Metal nanoparticles (NPs), inorganic NPs, polymer NPs, etc. have their respective advantages and show encouraging potential in the therapy of BC. In this review, we provide an overview on the state of the art in nanotechnology-based theranostics for BC, offering insights into the design and discovery of novel NPs for future BC management.","PeriodicalId":72998,"journal":{"name":"Exploration of drug science","volume":"32 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85486611","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Machine learning for drug science","authors":"de Azevedo Jr. Walter F.","doi":"10.37349/eds.2023.00007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37349/eds.2023.00007","url":null,"abstract":"Artificial intelligence (AI) has taken the daily news with increasing impact. The crescent growth of computational power and the rapid development of algorithms to harness this computational capacity delineate the perfect scenario for this avalanche of information about AI. Drug science is not immune to this influence, and many drug discovery projects employ AI. A search on PubMed using as strings “artificial intelligence” and “drug discovery” returned 1,149 publications up to 2022 (January 23, 2023). The histogram is shown Figure 1. The plot indicates a rapid increase in publications after 2018.","PeriodicalId":72998,"journal":{"name":"Exploration of drug science","volume":"8 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89699595","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Levistolide A and periplogenin inhibit the growth of gastric cancer cells in vitro and in vivo","authors":"Jiaqian Guo, Hongshang Hu, S. Lee, Ji Zhong Zhao","doi":"10.37349/eds.2023.00006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37349/eds.2023.00006","url":null,"abstract":"Aim: In the present study, the natural products levistolide A (LA) and periplogenin (PPG) were studied for their growth inhibitory effects on the development of gastric cancer cells in vitro and, more critically, in vivo, alone or in combination with the therapeutic medication 5-fluorouracil (5-FU).\u0000Methods: Methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT), also known as 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide assays were used for the cell viability study. Apoptosis was detected by western blot to detect the cleavage of caspase substrate poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate (dUTP) nick-end labelling (TUNEL) assays. The nude mice bearing gastric cancer cells were used for the anti-cancer activity detection of LA and its combinational treatment effect with 5-FU.\u0000Results: The results in the present study shown that the two compounds were able to inhibit the viability of the cancer cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner by MTT method. They could trigger apoptosis when used alone, and more potently, in combination with 5-FU detected by TUNEL positivity and the cleavage of caspase substrate PARP. In nude mice bearing gastric cancer cells, injection (i.p.) of LA or PPG alone inhibited the growth of the cancer cells. The treatment using one of the compounds in combination with 5-FU inhibited the cancer cell growth at a higher level than the treatment by a compound alone.\u0000Conclusions: LA and PPG could inhibit the growth of the cancer cells, alone or in combination with 5-FU, in vitro and in vivo, suggesting that they are promising investigational drugs for therapeutic development.","PeriodicalId":72998,"journal":{"name":"Exploration of drug science","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82963079","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Essential functions, syntheses and detection of sialyl Lewis X on glycoproteins","authors":"Qiu-Chen Chen, Han Liu, Xuechen Li","doi":"10.37349/eds.2023.00004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37349/eds.2023.00004","url":null,"abstract":"It is widely acknowledged that sialyl Lewis X (sLeX), the composition and linkage of which are N-acetylneuraminic acid (Neu5Ac) α2-3 galactose (Gal) β1-4 [fucose (Fuc) α1-3] N-acetylglucosamine, is usually attached to the cell surface. It presents as a terminal structure on either glycoproteins or glycolipids and has been demonstrated to be related to various biological processes, such as fertilization and selectin binding. Due to the vital role of sLeX, its synthesis as well as its determination approaches have attracted considerable attention from many researchers. In this review, the focus is sLeX on glycoproteins. The biological importance of sLeX in fertilization and development, immunity, cancers, and other aspects will be first introduced. Then the chemical and enzymatic synthesis of sLeX including the contributions from more than 15 international research groups will be described, followed by a brief view of the sLeX detection focusing on monosaccharides and linkages. This review is valuable for those readers who are interested in the chemistry and biology of sLeX.","PeriodicalId":72998,"journal":{"name":"Exploration of drug science","volume":"9 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84489858","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yi Ouyang, Yan Chen, Ting Xu, Yi Sun, Shenghe Zhao, Chunmei Chen, Yixin Tan, Liang He, Hui Liu
{"title":"Surface functionalized mesoporous polydopamine nanocomposites for killing tumor cells through collaborative chemo/photothermal/chemodynamic treatment","authors":"Yi Ouyang, Yan Chen, Ting Xu, Yi Sun, Shenghe Zhao, Chunmei Chen, Yixin Tan, Liang He, Hui Liu","doi":"10.37349/eds.2023.00003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37349/eds.2023.00003","url":null,"abstract":"Aim: The development of a collaborative strategy with improved efficacy holds great promise in tumor treatment. This study aims to develop an effective collaborative strategy based on functionalized mesoporous polydopamine (MPDA) nanocomposites for killing tumor cells.\u0000Methods: MPDA nanoparticles were synthesized and functionalized with camptothecin (CPT) payload and manganese dioxide (MnO2) coating to construct MPDA-CPT-MnO2 nanocomposites.\u0000Results: When uptaken by tumor cells, the nanocomposites can degrade to produce O2, release CPT, and generate manganese (Mn2+) under the stimulation of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and acid. The released CPT and Mn2+ can act as chemotherapeutic drug and Fenton-like agent, respectively. Abundant reactive oxygen species (ROS) are generated in 4T1 tumor cells through an Mn2+-mediated Fenton-like reaction. After that, the generated Mn4+ can react with glutathione (GSH) through redox reaction to produce Mn2+ and deplete GSH, disrupting the reducing capacity and benefiting the production of ROS in tumor cells. Under laser irradiation, the nanocomposites can generate hyperthermia to promote the production of ROS.\u0000Conclusions: The developed MPDA-CPT-MnO2 nanocomposites can kill tumor cells through collaborative chemo/photothermal/chemodynamic therapy (CDT).","PeriodicalId":72998,"journal":{"name":"Exploration of drug science","volume":"91 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82088657","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Convenient estimation of oxytetracycline and polymyxin B by a novel high-performance liquid chromatography method: development and validation","authors":"T. Chaudhary, Kurmi Balak Das, Dilpreet K Singh","doi":"10.37349/eds.2023.00002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37349/eds.2023.00002","url":null,"abstract":"Aim: The aim of this research work was to develop a validated reversed-phase (RP)-high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for simultaneous estimation of oxytetracycline (OXY) and polymixin B (PMB) in fixed-dose combination.\u0000Methods: The HPLC assay method was validated on X-Bridge C18 [250 mm × 4.6 mm intradermal (i.d.), 5 μm], mobile phase consisting of aotearoa co-incidence network (ACN):water containing 0.5% (v/v) orthophosphoric acid (pH 3.5) in the ratio of 80:20 respectively. The flow rate was set at 0.9 mL/min and the column was maintained at room temperature. The RP-HPLC method was validated in terms of the calibration curve (CC), linearity and range, limit of detection (LOD), and limit of quantitation (LOQ), precision, robustness, and accuracy.\u0000Results: The method was found to be linear with a concentration range of 5–25 µg/mL. Precision results showed the developed method was found to be precise with a relative standard deviation [RSD (%)] value < 2. Accuracy showed acceptable recovery of prepared concentrations as per intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) guidelines. Moreover, the developed method was found to be robust and rugged, as per specified ranges. The assay of these two drugs in marketed formulation, i.e., Terramycin® Ointment showed satisfactory recovery, as per ICH guidelines. The results proved that the method can be used for the routine-based estimation of OXY and PMB.\u0000Conclusions: Linear CC were obtained with a correlation coefficient (R2 > 0.99) with acceptable results of accuracy and precision.","PeriodicalId":72998,"journal":{"name":"Exploration of drug science","volume":"19 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74290332","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}