Amomum subulatum: A treasure trove of anti-cancer compounds targeting TP53 protein using in vitro and in silico techniques

Cancer is a primary global health concern, and researchers seek innovative approaches to combat the disease. Clinical bioinformatics and high-throughput proteomics technologies provide powerful tools to explore cancer biology. Medicinal plants are considered effective therapeutic agents, and computer-aided drug design (CAAD) is used to identify novel drug candidates from plant extracts. The tumour suppressor protein TP53 is an attractive target for drug development, given its crucial role in cancer pathogenesis. This study used a dried extract of Amomum subulatum seeds to identify phytocompounds targeting TP53 in cancer. We apply qualitative tests to determine its phytochemicals (Alkaloid, Tannin, Saponin, Phlobatinin, and Cardic glycoside), and found that alkaloid composed of 9.4% ± 0.04% and Saponin 1.9% ± 0.05% crude chemical constituent. In the results of DPPH Analysis Amomum subulatum Seeds founded antioxidant activity, and then we verified via observing methanol extract (79.82%), BHT (81.73%), and n-hexane extract (51.31%) found to be positive. For Inhibition of oxidation, we observe BHT is 90.25%, and Methanol (83.42%) has the most significant proportion of linoleic acid oxidation suppression. We used diverse bioinformatics approaches to evaluate the effect of A. subulatum seeds and their natural components on TP53. Compound-1 had the best pharmacophore match value (53.92), with others ranging from 50.75 to 53.92. Our docking result shows the top three natural compounds had the highest binding energies (-11.10 to -10.3 kcal/mol). The highest binding energies (-10.9 to -9.2 kcal/mol) compound bonded to significant sections in the target protein's active domains with TP53. Based on virtual screening, we select top phytocompounds for targets which highly fit based on pharmacophore score and observe these compounds exhibited potent antioxidant activity and inhibited cancer cell inflammation in the TP53 pathway. Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations indicated that the ligand was bound to the protein with some significant conformational changes in the protein structure. This study provides novel insights into the development of innovative drugs for the treatment of cancer disorders.

Hypoxia-activated prodrug derivatives of anti-cancer drugs: a patent review 2006 - 2021

INTRODUCTION

The hypoxic tumor microenvironment represents a persistent obstacle in the treatment of most solid tumors. In the past years, significant efforts have been made to improve the efficacy of anti-cancer drugs. Therefore, hypoxia-activated prodrugs (HAPs) of chemotherapeutic compounds have attracted widespread interest as a therapeutic means to treat hypoxic tumors.

AREAS COVERED

This updated review paper covers key patents published between 2006 and 2021 on the developments of HAP derivatives of anti-cancer compounds.

EXPERT OPINION

Despite significant achievements in the development of HAP derivatives of anti-cancer compounds and although many clinical trials have been performed or are ongoing both as monotherapies and as part of combination therapies, there has currently no HAP anti-cancer agent been commercialized into the market. Unsuccessful clinical translation is partly due to the lack of patient stratification based on reliable biomarkers that are predictive of a positive response to hypoxia-targeted therapy.

Crystal engineering of exemestane to obtain a co-crystal with enhanced urease inhibition activity

Co-crystallization is a phenomenon widely employed to enhance the physio-chemical and biological properties of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). Exemestane, or 6-methyl-ideneandrosta-1,4-diene-3,17-dione, is an anabolic steroid used as an irreversible steroidal aromatase inhibitor, which is in clinical use to treat breast cancer. The present study deals with the synthesis of co-crystals of exemestane with thio-urea by liquid-assisted grinding. The purity and homogeneity of the exemestane-thio-urea (1:1) co-crystal were confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction followed by thermal stability analysis on the basis of differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis. Detailed geometric analysis of the co-crystal demonstrated that a 1:1 co-crystal stoichiometry is sustained by N-H⋯O hydrogen bonding between the amine (NH2) groups of thio-urea and the carbonyl group of exemestane. The synthesized co-crystal exhibited potent urease inhibition activity in vitro (IC50 = 3.86 ± 0.31 µg ml-1) compared with the API (exemestane), which was found to be inactive, and the co-former (thio-urea) (IC50 = 21.0 ± 1.25 µg ml-1), which is also an established tested standard for urease inhibition assays in vitro. The promising results of the present study highlight the significance of co-crystallization as a crystal engineering tool to improve the efficacy of pharmaceutical ingredients. Furthermore, the role of various hydrogen bonds in the crystal stability is successfully analysed quantitatively using Hirshfeld surface analysis.

Isolation of Phytochemicals from Bauhinia variegata L. Bark and Their In Vitro Antioxidant and Cytotoxic Potential

Plants have been the basis of traditional medicine since the dawn of civilizations. Different plant parts possess various phytochemicals, playing important roles in preventing and curing diseases. Scientists, through extensive experimental studies, are playing an important part in establishing the use of phytochemicals in medicine. However, there are still a large number of medicinal plants which need to be studied for their phytochemical profile. In this study, the objective was to isolate phytochemicals from bark of Bauhinia variegata L. and to study them for their antioxidant and cytotoxic activities. The bark was extracted with methanol, followed by column chromatography and thus isolating kaempferol, stigmasterol, protocatechuic acid-methyl ester (PCA-ME) and protocatechuic acid (PCA). 2,2-azinobis-3-ethyl-benzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS) and 2, 2'-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) radical scavenging assays were utilized for assessment of antioxidant activity, and 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) dye reduction assay was used to determine cytotoxic activity against C-6 glioma rat brain, MCF-7 breast cancer, and HCT-15 colon cancer cell lines. The compounds were found to have significant antioxidant and cytotoxic activity. Since there is a considerable increase in characterizing novel chemical compounds from plant parts, the present study might be helpful for chemotaxonomic determinations, for understanding of medicinal properties as well as for the quality assessment of herbal supplements containing B. variegata bark, thus establishing its use in traditional medicine.

STAT3 inhibitors for cancer therapy: Have all roads been explored?

The signal transducer and activator of transcription STAT3 is a transcription factor which plays a key role in normal cell growth and is constitutively activated in about 70% of solid and hematological cancers. Activated STAT3 is phosphorylated on tyrosine and forms a dimer through phosphotyrosine/src homology 2 (SH2) domain interaction. The dimer enters the nucleus via interaction with importins and binds target genes. Inhibition of STAT3 results in the death of tumor cells, this indicates that it is a valuable target for anticancer strategies; a view that is corroborated by recent findings of activating mutations within the gene. Yet, there is still only a small number of STAT3 direct inhibitors; in addition, the high similarity of STAT3 with STAT1, another STAT family member mostly oriented toward apoptosis, cell death and defense against pathogens, requires that STAT3-inhibitors have no effect on STAT1. Specific STAT3 direct inhibitors consist of SH2 ligands, including G quartet oligodeoxynucleotides (ODN) and small molecules, they induce cell death in tumor cells in which STAT3 is activated. STAT3 can also be inhibited by decoy ODNs (dODN), which bind STAT3 and induce cell death. A specific STAT3 dODN which does not interfere with STAT1-mediated interferon-induced cell death has been designed pointing to the STAT3 DBD as a target for specific inhibition. Comprehensive analysis of this region is in progress in the laboratory to design DBD-targeting STAT3 inhibitors with STAT3/STAT1 discriminating ability.

Linking Ayurveda and Western medicine by integrative analysis

In this article, we discuss our recent work in elucidating the mode-of-action of compounds used in traditional medicine including Ayurvedic medicine. Using computational ('in silico') approach, we predict potential targets for Ayurvedic anti-cancer compounds, obtained from the Indian Plant Anticancer Database given its chemical structure. In our analysis, we observed that: (i) the targets predicted can be connected to cancer pathogenesis i.e. steroid-5-alpha reductase 1 and 2 and estrogen receptor-β, and (ii) predominantly hormone-dependent cancer targets were predicted for the anti-cancer compounds. Through the use of our in silico target prediction, we conclude that understanding how traditional medicine such as Ayurveda work through linking with the 'western' understanding of chemistry and protein targets can be a fruitful avenue in addition to bridging the gap between the two different schools of thinking. Given that compounds used in Ayurveda have been tested and used for thousands of years (although not in the same approach as Western medicine), they can potentially be developed into potential new drugs. Hence, to further advance the case of Ayurvedic medicine, we put forward some suggestions namely: (a) employing and integrating novel analytical methods given the advancements of 'omics' and (b) sharing experimental data and clinical results on studies done on Ayurvedic compounds in an easy and accessible way.