Organosulfur Compound Identified from Striga angustifolia (D. Don) C.J. Saldanha Inhibits Lung Cancer Growth and Induces Apoptosis via p53/mTOR Signaling Pathway

Targeting autophagy drug discovery: Targets, indications and development trends

Autophagy plays a vital role in sustaining cellular homeostasis and its alterations have been implicated in the etiology of many diseases. Drugs development targeting autophagy began decades ago and hundreds of agents were developed, some of which are licensed for the clinical usage. However, no existing intervention specifically aimed at modulating autophagy is available. The obstacles that prevent drug developments come from the complexity of the actual impact of autophagy regulators in disease scenarios. With the development and application of new technologies, several promising categories of compounds for autophagy-based therapy have emerged in recent years. In this paper, the autophagy-targeted drugs based on their targets at various hierarchical sites of the autophagic signaling network, e.g., the upstream and downstream of the autophagosome and the autophagic components with enzyme activities are reviewed and analyzed respectively, with special attention paid to those at preclinical or clinical trials. The drugs tailored to specific autophagy alone and combination with drugs/adjuvant therapies widely used in clinical for various diseases treatments are also emphasized. The emerging drug design and development targeting selective autophagy receptors (SARs) and their related proteins, which would be expected to arrest or reverse the progression of disease in various cancers, inflammation, neurodegeneration, and metabolic disorders, are critically reviewed. And the challenges and perspective in clinically developing autophagy-targeted drugs and possible combinations with other medicine are considered in the review.

Conservation linkages of endangered medicinal plant and exploration of phytochemicals, pharmaceutical screening and in silico validation against diabetics using in vivo wild and in vitro regenerated plant Boucerosia diffusa Wight

Boucerosia diffusa Wight. is an important endangered medicinal plant belonging to the family Asclepiadaceae. In this study, an efficient protocol has been developed for B. diffusa using nodal explants for callus induction and direct organogenesis. The optimal callus induction (83.7%) was observed on 0.6 mg/L 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) in Murashige and Skoog medium. The shoot regeneration was observed on different concentrations and combinations of 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) and 2,4-D using shoot induction (88.5%) was observed on 0.5 mg/L BAP and 0.6 mg/L 2,4-D. Maximum root induction frequency (85.6%) was obtained on 0.6 mg/L α-naphthalene-acetic acid (NAA) and 0.5 mg/L BAP. The fully developed plants were acclimatized (98.86% survival rate) and transferred to natural photoperiod conditions. The phytochemical and pharmacological activity was determined in in vitro-regenerated plants (IRP) and was compared to in vivo wild plants (IWP). The primary and the secondary metabolite contents of bioactive compounds were significantly higher in the methanolic extract of IRP. A comparative antioxidant activity study shows IRP exhibited better scavenging activity. The antidiabetic activity of α- amylase (IC50 - 71.56 ± 15.4 µg/mL) and α-glucosidase (IC50 - 82.94 ± 12.84 µg/mL) inhibitor activity also exhibited maximum in methanolic extract of IRP. Furthermore, chemical composition was analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS). Antibacterial activity against human pathogenic bacteria, IRP methanolic extracts showed a maximum zone of inhibition (75 µg/mL) observed against Salmonella typhi (23.5 ± 0.5 mm) compared to the IWP. Molecular docking analysis of B. diffusa inhibition of antidiabetic activity showed better affinity in β-Sitosterol.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13205-023-03645-5.