Design of antiangiogenic hypoxic cell radiosensitizers: 2-nitroimidazoles containing a 2-aminomethylene-4-cyclopentene-1,3-dione moiety

Antibiofilm and Antivirulence Activities of Gold and Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Synthesized from Kimchi-Isolated Leuconostoc sp. Strain C2

The rapid emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) among bacterial pathogens results in antimicrobial treatment failure and the high mortality rate associated with AMR. The application of nanoparticles synthesized from probiotics will be widely accepted due to their efficacy and biocompatibility in treating microbial infections in humans. The current work sought to isolate and identify lactic acid bacteria (LAB) from Kimchi. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing, the LAB isolate C2 was identified as a member of the genus Leuconostoc. The obtained supernatant from Leuconostoc sp. strain C2 was employed for the green synthesis of metal (AuNPs) and metal oxide (ZnONPs) nanoparticles. UV–vis absorption spectra, FTIR analysis, XRD, DLS, FE-TEM, and EDS mapping were used to fully characterize these C2-AuNPs and C2-ZnONPs. The C2-AuNPs were found to be spherical in shape, with a size of 47.77 ± 5.7 nm and zeta potential of −19.35 ± 0.67 mV. The C2-ZnONPs were observed to be rod-shaped and 173.77 ± 14.53 nm in size. The C2-ZnONPs zeta potential was determined to be 26.62 ± 0.35 mV. The C2-AuNPs and C2-ZnONPs were shown to have antimicrobial activity against different pathogens. Furthermore, these nanoparticles inhibited the growth of Candida albicans. The antibiofilm and antivirulence properties of these NPs against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus were thoroughly investigated. C2-AuNPs were reported to be antibiofilm and antivirulence against P. aeruginosa, whereas C2-ZnONPs were antibiofilm and antivirulence against both P. aeruginosa and S. aureus. Furthermore, these nanoparticles disrupted the preformed mature biofilm of P. aeruginosa and S. aureus. The inhibitory impact was discovered to be concentration-dependent. The current research demonstrated that C2-AuNPs and C2-ZnONPs exhibited potential inhibitory effects on the biofilm and virulence features of bacterial pathogens. Further studies are needed to unravel the molecular mechanism behind biofilm inhibition and virulence attenuation.

Next-Generation Hypoxic Cell Radiosensitizers: Nitroimidazole Alkylsulfonamides

Innovations in the field of radiotherapy such as stereotactic body radiotherapy, along with the advent of radio-immuno-oncology, herald new opportunities for classical oxygen-mimetic radiosensitizers. The role of hypoxic tumor cells in resistance to radiotherapy and in suppression of immune response continues to endorse tumor hypoxia as a bona fide, yet largely untapped, drug target. Only nimorazole is used clinically as a radiosensitizer, and there is a dearth of new radiosensitizers in development. Here we present a survey of novel nitroimidazole alkylsulfonamides and document their cytotoxicity and ability to radiosensitize anoxic tumor cells in vitro. We use a phosphate prodrug approach to increase aqueous solubility and to improve tumor drug delivery. A 2-nitroimidazole and a 5-nitroimidazole analogue demonstrated marked tumor radiosensitization in either ex vivo assays of surviving clonogens or tumor regrowth delay.

Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of metronidazole-thiazole derivatives as antibacterial inhibitors

A series of metronidazole-thiazole derivatives has been designed, synthesized and evaluated as potential antibacterial inhibitors. All the synthesized compounds were determined by elemental analysis, 1H NMR and MS. They were also tested for antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli, Bacillus thuringiensis, Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa as well as for the inhibition to FabH. The results showed that compound 5e exhibited the most potent inhibitory activity against E. coli FabH with IC50 of 4.9μM. Molecular modeling simulation studies were performed in order to predict the biological activity of proposed compounds. Toxicity assay of compounds 5a, 5b, 5d, 5e, 5g and 5i showed that they were noncytotoxic against human macrophage. The results revealed that these compounds offered remarkable viability.

Evaluation of the in vivo antioxidative activity of redox nanoparticles by using a developing chicken egg as an alternative animal model

Antioxidants have been demonstrated to exert beneficial effects as pharmacotherapies for cardiovascular diseases. The in vitro systems generally employed to evaluate antioxidants, however, are limited by having no appreciable in vivo redox status of the antioxidants. Therefore, we used our developing chicken egg model to evaluate the in vivo antioxidative activity of a redox nanoparticle possessing 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl (RNP(O)). The 2,2'-azobis(2-methylpropionamidine) dihydrochloride (AAPH) elicited strong oxidative stress and its LD50 value for chick embryos was 3.5±0.9mg/egg. The low molecular weight nitroxide compound, 4-hydroxy-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPOL), which is known to have the highest level of antioxidant activity, showed no significant protective effect against AAPH-induced embryo lethality. On the contrary, RNP(O) had potent protective effects against AAPH-induced embryo lethality. Moreover, RNP(O) could significantly suppress the production of lipid peroxides in chick serum induced by hydrocortisone. Since RNP(O) has a longer retention time in blood than TEMPOL, RNP(O) may protect the embryo against lethal oxidative stress by suppressing lipid peroxidation. The validity of in vivo experiments using developing chicken eggs was supported by our data, where RNP(O) was determined to elicit strong antioxidative activity in vivo, irrespective of the lack of a significant difference in the in vitro activity between low-molecular weight TEMPOL and RNP(O). Our results support the use of the developing chicken egg model to evaluate the potential in vivo antioxidative activity of RNP(O).

Synthesis and antibacterial evaluation of novel Schiff's base derivatives of nitroimidazole nuclei as potent E. coli FabH inhibitors

Series of novel Schiff's base derivatives have been synthesized. Compound 10q showed the most potent inhibitory activity (IC₅₀ = 2.6883 μM).

Synthesis, molecular modeling, and biological evaluation of cinnamic acid metronidazole ester derivatives as novel anticancer agents

A series of novel cinnamic acid metronidazole ester derivatives have been designed and synthesized, and their biological activities were also evaluated as potential EGFR and HER-2 kinase inhibitors. Compound 3h showed the most potent biological activity (IC50=0.62 microM for EGFR and IC50=2.15 microM for HER-2). Docking simulation was performed to position compound 3h into the EGFR active site to determine the probable binding model. Antiproliferative assay results demonstrated that some of these compounds possessed good antiproliferative activity against MCF-7. Compound 3h with potent inhibitory activity in tumor growth inhibition may be a potential anticancer agent.

Radiosensitising agents for the radiotherapy of cancer: novel molecularly targeted approaches

BACKGROUND

The efficacy of radiotherapy (RT) for cancer treatment is limited by normal tissue toxicity and by the intrinsic or acquired radioresistance of many tumours. Therefore, continuing efforts are conducted to identify radiosensitising agents that preferentially sensitise tumour cells to the cytotoxic action of RT. Recent progresses in molecular oncology have uncovered an array of novel targets, which may be exploited for RT enhancement.

OBJECTIVE

To survey the patent literature of the past 4 years pertaining to the development of molecularly targeted agents as potential tumour radiosensitisers.

METHODS

Patents were searched with a set of relevant keywords using several search engines. A Medline search on the same topics was performed in parallel.

RESULTS/CONCLUSION

A total of 48 patents/applications were selected. These concerned agents target molecular components of pathways involved in DNA damage repair, cell growth and survival signalling, apoptosis modulation and tumour angiogenesis. Current trials of some of these agents may reveal their value as clinical radiosensitisers.