Drug Repositioning

"drug repositioning" OR "drug repurposing"; +6 new citations

Wed, 2020-12-16 06:00

6 new pubmed citations were retrieved for your search. Click on the search hyperlink below to display the complete search results:

"drug repositioning" OR "drug repurposing"

These pubmed results were generated on 2020/12/16

PubMed comprises more than millions of citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. Citations may include links to full-text content from PubMed Central and publisher web sites.

Categories: Literature Watch

"drug repositioning" OR "drug repurposing"; +53 new citations

Tue, 2020-12-15 09:17

53 new pubmed citations were retrieved for your search. Click on the search hyperlink below to display the complete search results:

"drug repositioning" OR "drug repurposing"

These pubmed results were generated on 2020/12/15

PubMed comprises more than millions of citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. Citations may include links to full-text content from PubMed Central and publisher web sites.

Categories: Literature Watch

"drug repositioning" OR "drug repurposing"; +50 new citations

Tue, 2020-12-15 06:00

50 new pubmed citations were retrieved for your search. Click on the search hyperlink below to display the complete search results:

"drug repositioning" OR "drug repurposing"

These pubmed results were generated on 2020/12/15

PubMed comprises more than millions of citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. Citations may include links to full-text content from PubMed Central and publisher web sites.

Categories: Literature Watch

L1000 connectivity map interrogation identifies candidate drugs for repurposing as SARS-CoV-2 antiviral therapies

Mon, 2020-12-14 06:00

Comput Struct Biotechnol J. 2020;18:3947-3949. doi: 10.1016/j.csbj.2020.11.054. Epub 2020 Dec 6.

ABSTRACT

Adaptive clinical trials are underway to determine the efficacy of potential therapies for COVID-19, with flexibility to include emerging therapies if there is sufficient preclinical evidence for their potential utility. In silico screening of connectivity maps, which link gene expression profiles to libraries of perturbagens, may facilitate the identification of such emerging therapies. The L1000 Connectivity Map is built from samples of transcripts taken from gene expression profiles of cells in various experimental conditions followed by computational inferences of the remainder of the transcriptome. Searching the L1000 Connectivity Map for modulators of a protease that facilitates coronavirus infection identifies plausible candidate drugs for repurposing as antiviral agents against SARS-CoV-2 following further investigation.

PMID:33312454 | PMC:PMC7719280 | DOI:10.1016/j.csbj.2020.11.054

Categories: Literature Watch

Targeting abnormal metabolism in Alzheimer's disease: The Drug Repurposing for Effective Alzheimer's Medicines (DREAM) study.

Sat, 2020-12-12 07:47
Related Articles

Targeting abnormal metabolism in Alzheimer's disease: The Drug Repurposing for Effective Alzheimer's Medicines (DREAM) study.

Alzheimers Dement (N Y). 2020;6(1):e12095

Authors: Desai RJ, Varma VR, Gerhard T, Segal J, Mahesri M, Chin K, Nonnenmacher E, Gabbeta A, Mammen AM, Varma S, Horton DB, Kim SC, Schneeweiss S, Thambisetty M

Abstract
Drug discovery for disease-modifying therapies for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) based on the traditional paradigm of experimental animal models has been disappointing. We describe the rationale and design of the Drug Repurposing for Effective Alzheimer's Medicines (DREAM) study, an innovative multidisciplinary alternative to traditional drug discovery. First, we use a systems biology perspective in the "hypothesis generation" phase to identify metabolic abnormalities that may either precede or interact with the accumulation of ADRD neuropathology, accelerating the expression of clinical symptoms of the disease. Second, in the "hypothesis refinement" phase we propose use of large patient cohorts to test whether drugs approved for other indications that also target metabolic drivers of ADRD pathogenesis might alter the trajectory of the disease. We emphasize key challenges in population-based pharmacoepidemiologic studies aimed at quantifying the association between medication use and ADRD onset and outline robust causal inference principles to safeguard against common pitfalls. Candidate ADRD treatments emerging from this approach will hold promise as plausible disease-modifying therapies for evaluation in randomized controlled trials.

PMID: 33304987 [PubMed]

Categories: Literature Watch

Repurposing Known Drugs as Covalent and Non-covalent Inhibitors of the SARS-CoV-2 Papain-Like Protease.

Sat, 2020-12-12 07:47
Related Articles

Repurposing Known Drugs as Covalent and Non-covalent Inhibitors of the SARS-CoV-2 Papain-Like Protease.

Front Chem. 2020;8:594009

Authors: Delre P, Caporuscio F, Saviano M, Mangiatordi GF

Abstract
In the absence of an approved vaccine, developing effective severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antivirals is essential to tackle the current pandemic health crisis due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) spread. As any traditional drug discovery program is a time-consuming and costly process requiring more than one decade to be completed, in silico repurposing of existing drugs is the preferred way for rapidly selecting promising clinical candidates. We present a virtual screening campaign to identify covalent and non-covalent inhibitors of the SARS-CoV-2 papain-like protease (PLpro) showing potential multitarget activities (i.e., a desirable polypharmacology profile) for the COVID-19 treatment. A dataset including 688 phase III and 1,702 phase IV clinical trial drugs was downloaded from ChEMBL (version 27.1) and docked to the recently released crystal structure of PLpro in complex with a covalently bound peptide inhibitor. The obtained results were analyzed by combining protein-ligand interaction fingerprint similarities, conventional docking scores, and MM-GBSA-binding free energies and allowed the identification of some interesting candidates for further in vitro testing. To the best of our knowledge, this study represents the first attempt to repurpose drugs for a covalent inhibition of PLpro and could pave the way for new therapeutic strategies against COVID-19.

PMID: 33304884 [PubMed]

Categories: Literature Watch

Silybin B and Cianidanol Inhibit M pro and Spike Protein of SARS-CoV-2: Evidence from in Silico Molecular Docking Studies.

Sat, 2020-12-12 07:47
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Silybin B and Cianidanol Inhibit M pro and Spike Protein of SARS-CoV-2: Evidence from in Silico Molecular Docking Studies.

Curr Pharm Des. 2020 Dec 10;:

Authors: Srivastava R, Tripathi S, Unni S, Hussain A, Haque S, Dasgupta N, Singh V, Mishra BN

Abstract
BACKGROUND: The main proteases (Mpro) and Spike Proteins (SP) of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV-2) play a major role in viral infection development by producing several non-structural proteins (nsPs) and penetrating the host cells respectively. In this study, the potential of in silico molecular docking-based drug repositioning approach was exploited for identifying the inhibitors of Mpro and SP of SARS-CoV-2.
METHODS: A total of 196 compounds including various US-FDA-approved drugs, vitamins and their analogs were docked with Mpro (PDB IDs: 6YB7 and 6Y84), and the top six ligands were further tested for ADME properties followed by docking with SP (PDB IDs: 6LXT and 6W41).
RESULTS: Out of 196 compounds, binding energy (DE) of Silybin B (6YB7: DE: -11.20 kcal/mol; 6Y84: DE: -10.18 kcal/mol; 6LXT:DE: -10.47 kcal/mol; 6W41:DE: -10.96 kcal/mol) and Cianidanol (6YB7:DE: -8.85 kcal/mol; 6Y84:DE:-10.02 kcal/mol; 6LXT:DE:-9.36 kcal/mol; 6W41:DE: -9.52 kcal/mol) demonstrated better binding and ADME properties compared with the currently endeavored drugs like Hydroxychloroquine and Lopinavir. Additionally, Elliptinone, Diospyirin, SCHEMBL94263 and Fiboflavin have shown encouraging results. Fiboflavin, an immunity booster, was found to inhibit both the Mpro and spike protein of SARS-CoV-2. It was observed that amino acid residues MET6, ALA7, PHE8, PRO9, ASP295, GLY302, VAL303 and THR304 play significant roles in protein-ligand interactions through hydrogen bonds and Vander Waals forces.
CONCLUSION: Silybin B and Cianidanol showed excellent binding and ADME properties compared with the currently endeavored drugs and can be exploited as therapeutic options against SARS-CoV-2 infection after experimental validation and clinical trials.

PMID: 33302853 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Categories: Literature Watch

"drug repositioning" OR "drug repurposing"; +9 new citations

Fri, 2020-12-11 16:27

9 new pubmed citations were retrieved for your search. Click on the search hyperlink below to display the complete search results:

"drug repositioning" OR "drug repurposing"

These pubmed results were generated on 2020/12/11

PubMed comprises more than millions of citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. Citations may include links to full-text content from PubMed Central and publisher web sites.

Categories: Literature Watch

"drug repositioning" OR "drug repurposing"; +8 new citations

Thu, 2020-12-10 09:57

8 new pubmed citations were retrieved for your search. Click on the search hyperlink below to display the complete search results:

"drug repositioning" OR "drug repurposing"

These pubmed results were generated on 2020/12/10

PubMed comprises more than millions of citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. Citations may include links to full-text content from PubMed Central and publisher web sites.

Categories: Literature Watch

Artificial intelligence and machine learning-aided drug discovery in central nervous system diseases: State-of-the-arts and future directions.

Thu, 2020-12-10 06:52
Related Articles

Artificial intelligence and machine learning-aided drug discovery in central nervous system diseases: State-of-the-arts and future directions.

Med Res Rev. 2020 Dec 09;:

Authors: Vatansever S, Schlessinger A, Wacker D, Kaniskan HÜ, Jin J, Zhou MM, Zhang B

Abstract
Neurological disorders significantly outnumber diseases in other therapeutic areas. However, developing drugs for central nervous system (CNS) disorders remains the most challenging area in drug discovery, accompanied with the long timelines and high attrition rates. With the rapid growth of biomedical data enabled by advanced experimental technologies, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have emerged as an indispensable tool to draw meaningful insights and improve decision making in drug discovery. Thanks to the advancements in AI and ML algorithms, now the AI/ML-driven solutions have an unprecedented potential to accelerate the process of CNS drug discovery with better success rate. In this review, we comprehensively summarize AI/ML-powered pharmaceutical discovery efforts and their implementations in the CNS area. After introducing the AI/ML models as well as the conceptualization and data preparation, we outline the applications of AI/ML technologies to several key procedures in drug discovery, including target identification, compound screening, hit/lead generation and optimization, drug response and synergy prediction, de novo drug design, and drug repurposing. We review the current state-of-the-art of AI/ML-guided CNS drug discovery, focusing on blood-brain barrier permeability prediction and implementation into therapeutic discovery for neurological diseases. Finally, we discuss the major challenges and limitations of current approaches and possible future directions that may provide resolutions to these difficulties.

PMID: 33295676 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Categories: Literature Watch

Antileishmanial Chemotherapy through Clemastine Fumarate Mediated Inhibition of the Leishmania Inositol Phosphorylceramide Synthase.

Thu, 2020-12-10 06:52
Related Articles

Antileishmanial Chemotherapy through Clemastine Fumarate Mediated Inhibition of the Leishmania Inositol Phosphorylceramide Synthase.

ACS Infect Dis. 2020 Dec 08;:

Authors: Mina JGM, Charlton RL, Alpizar-Sosa E, Escrivani DO, Brown C, Alqaisi A, Borsodi MPG, Figueiredo CP, de Lima EV, Dickie EA, Wei W, Coutinho-Silva R, Merritt A, Smith TK, Barrett MP, Rossi-Bergmann B, Denny PW, Steel PG

Abstract
Current chemotherapeutics for leishmaniasis have multiple deficiencies, and there is a need for new safe, efficacious, and affordable medicines. This study describes a successful drug repurposing approach that identifies the over-the-counter antihistamine, clemastine fumarate, as a potential antileishmanial drug candidate. The screening for inhibitors of the sphingolipid synthase (inositol phosphorylceramide synthase, IPCS) afforded, following secondary screening against Leishmania major (Lmj) promastigotes, 16 active compounds. Further refinement through the dose response against LmjIPCS and intramacrophage L. major amastigotes identified clemastine fumarate with good activity and selectivity with respect to the host macrophage. On target engagement was supported by diminished sensitivity in a sphingolipid-deficient L. major mutant (ΔLmjLCB2) and altered phospholipid and sphingolipid profiles upon treatment with clemastine fumarate. The drug also induced an enhanced host cell response to infection indicative of polypharmacology. The activity was sustained across a panel of Old and New World Leishmania species, displaying an in vivo activity equivalent to the currently used drug, glucantime, in a mouse model of L. amazonensis infection. Overall, these data validate IPCS as an antileishmanial drug target and indicate that clemastine fumarate is a candidate for repurposing for the treatment of leishmaniasis.

PMID: 33291887 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Categories: Literature Watch

IMU-838, a Developmental DHODH Inhibitor in Phase II for Autoimmune Disease, Shows Anti-SARS-CoV-2 and Broad-Spectrum Antiviral Efficacy In Vitro.

Thu, 2020-12-10 06:52
Related Articles

IMU-838, a Developmental DHODH Inhibitor in Phase II for Autoimmune Disease, Shows Anti-SARS-CoV-2 and Broad-Spectrum Antiviral Efficacy In Vitro.

Viruses. 2020 Dec 05;12(12):

Authors: Hahn F, Wangen C, Häge S, Peter AS, Dobler G, Hurst B, Julander J, Fuchs J, Ruzsics Z, Überla K, Jäck HM, Ptak R, Muehler A, Gröppel M, Vitt D, Peelen E, Kohlhof H, Marschall M

Abstract
The ongoing pandemic spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) demands skillful strategies for novel drug development, drug repurposing and cotreatments, in particular focusing on existing candidates of host-directed antivirals (HDAs). The developmental drug IMU-838, currently being investigated in a phase 2b trial in patients suffering from autoimmune diseases, represents an inhibitor of human dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHODH) with a recently proven antiviral activity in vitro and in vivo. Here, we established an analysis system for assessing the antiviral potency of IMU-838 and DHODH-directed back-up drugs in cultured cell-based infection models. By the use of SARS-CoV-2-specific immunofluorescence, Western blot, in-cell ELISA, viral yield reduction and RT-qPCR methods, we demonstrated the following: (i) IMU-838 and back-ups show anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity at several levels of viral replication, i.e., protein production, double-strand RNA synthesis, and release of infectious virus; (ii) antiviral efficacy in Vero cells was demonstrated in a micromolar range (IMU-838 half-maximal effective concentration, EC50, of 7.6 ± 5.8 µM); (iii) anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity was distinct from cytotoxic effects (half-cytotoxic concentration, CC50, >100 µM); (iv) the drug in vitro potency was confirmed using several Vero lineages and human cells; (v) combination with remdesivir showed enhanced anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity; (vi) vidofludimus, the active determinant of IMU-838, exerted a broad-spectrum activity against a selection of major human pathogenic viruses. These findings strongly suggest that developmental DHODH inhibitors represent promising candidates for use as anti-SARS-CoV-2 therapeutics.

PMID: 33291455 [PubMed - in process]

Categories: Literature Watch

Enhancement of the IFN-β-induced host signature informs repurposed drugs for COVID-19.

Wed, 2020-12-09 09:27

Enhancement of the IFN-β-induced host signature informs repurposed drugs for COVID-19.

Heliyon. 2020 Dec;6(12):e05646

Authors: Huang CT, Chao TL, Kao HC, Pang YH, Lee WH, Hsieh CH, Chang SY, Huang HC, Juan HF

Abstract
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a causative agent for the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This global pandemic is now calling for efforts to develop more effective COVID-19 therapies. Here we use a host-directed approach, which focuses on cellular responses to diverse small-molecule treatments, to identify potentially effective drugs for COVID-19. This framework looks at the ability of compounds to elicit a similar transcriptional response to IFN-β, a type I interferon that fails to be induced at notable levels in response to SARS-CoV-2 infection. By correlating the perturbation profiles of ~3,000 small molecules with a high-quality signature of IFN-β-responsive genes in primary normal human bronchial epithelial cells, our analysis revealed four candidate COVID-19 compounds, namely homoharringtonine, narciclasine, anisomycin, and emetine. We experimentally confirmed that the predicted compounds significantly inhibited SARS-CoV-2 replication in Vero E6 cells at nanomolar, relatively non-toxic concentrations, with half-maximal inhibitory concentrations of 165.7 nM, 16.5 nM, and 31.4 nM for homoharringtonine, narciclasine, and anisomycin, respectively. Together, our results corroborate a host-centric strategy to inform protective antiviral therapies for COVID-19.

PMID: 33289002 [PubMed]

Categories: Literature Watch

Antigiardial Activity of Acetylsalicylic Acid Is Associated with Overexpression of HSP70 and Membrane Transporters.

Wed, 2020-12-09 09:27

Antigiardial Activity of Acetylsalicylic Acid Is Associated with Overexpression of HSP70 and Membrane Transporters.

Pharmaceuticals (Basel). 2020 Dec 03;13(12):

Authors: Ochoa-Maganda VY, Rangel-Castañeda IA, Suárez-Rico DO, Cortés-Zárate R, Hernández-Hernández JM, Pérez-Rangel A, Chiquete-Félix N, León-Ávila G, González-Pozos S, Gaona-Bernal J, Castillo-Romero A

Abstract
Giardia lamblia is a flagellated protozoan responsible for giardiasis, a worldwide diarrheal disease. The adverse effects of the pharmacological treatments and the appearance of drug resistance have increased the rate of therapeutic failures. In the search for alternative therapeutics, drug repositioning has become a popular strategy. Acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) exhibits diverse biological activities through multiple mechanisms. However, the full spectrum of its activities is incompletely understood. In this study we show that ASA displayed direct antigiardial activity and affected the adhesion and growth of trophozoites in a time-dose-dependent manner. Electron microscopy images revealed remarkable morphological alterations in the membrane, ventral disk, and caudal region. Using mass spectrometry and real-time quantitative reverse transcription (qRT-PCR), we identified that ASA induced the overexpression of heat shock protein 70 (HSP70). ASA also showed a significant increase of five ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters (giABC, giABCP, giMDRP, giMRPL and giMDRAP1). Additionally, we found low toxicity on Caco-2 cells. Taken together, these results suggest an important role of HSPs and ABC drug transporters in contributing to stress tolerance and protecting cells from ASA-induced stress.

PMID: 33287104 [PubMed]

Categories: Literature Watch

Combined bezafibrate, medroxyprogesterone acetate and valproic acid treatment inhibits osteosarcoma cell growth without adversely affecting normal mesenchymal stem cells.

Wed, 2020-12-09 06:22

Combined bezafibrate, medroxyprogesterone acetate and valproic acid treatment inhibits osteosarcoma cell growth without adversely affecting normal mesenchymal stem cells.

Biosci Rep. 2020 Dec 08;:

Authors: Sheard JJ, Southam AS, Mackay HL, Ellington MA, Snow MD, Khanim F, Bunce CM, Johnson WE

Abstract
Drug repurposing is a cost effective means of targeting new therapies for cancer. We have examined the effects of the repurposed drugs, bezafibrate, medroxyprogesterone acetate and valproic acid on human osteosarcoma cells, i.e., SAOS2 and MG63 compared with their normal cell counterparts, i.e. mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs). Cell growth, viability and migration were measured by biochemical assay and live cell imaging, whilst levels of lipid-synthesising enzymes were measured by immunoblotting cell extracts. These drug treatments inhibited the growth and survival of SAOS2 and MG63 cells most effectively when used in combination (termed V-BAP). In contrast, V-BAP treated MSCs remained viable with only moderately reduced cell proliferation. V-BAP treatment also inhibited migratory cell phenotypes. MG63 and SAOS2 cells expressed much greater levels of fatty acid synthase and stearoyl CoA desaturase 1 than MSCs, but these elevated enzyme levels significantly decreased in the V-BAP treated osteosarcoma cells prior to cell death. Hence, we have identified a repurposed drug combination that selectively inhibits the growth and survival of human osteosarcoma cells in association with altered lipid metabolism without adversely affecting their non-transformed cell counterparts.

PMID: 33289496 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Categories: Literature Watch

Repurposing potential of FDA approved and investigational drugs for COVID-19 targeting SARS-CoV-2 spike and main protease and validation by machine learning algorithm.

Wed, 2020-12-09 06:22

Repurposing potential of FDA approved and investigational drugs for COVID-19 targeting SARS-CoV-2 spike and main protease and validation by machine learning algorithm.

Chem Biol Drug Des. 2020 Dec 07;:

Authors: Verma AK, Aggarwal R

Abstract
The present study aimed to assess the repurposing potential of existing antiviral drug candidates (FDA approved and investigational) against SARS-CoV-2 target proteins that facilitates viral entry and replication into the host body. To evaluate molecular affinities between antiviral drug candidates and SARS-CoV-2 associated target proteins such as spike protein (S) and main protease (Mpro ), a molecular interaction simulation was performed using MD software and subsequently the applicability score was calculated by machine learning algorithms. Furthermore, the STITCH algorithm was used to predict the pharmacology network involving multiple pathways of active drug candidate(s). Pharmacophores feature of active drug(s) molecules was also determined to predict structure activity relationship. The molecular interaction analysis showed that cordycepin has strong binding affinities with S protein (-180) and Mpro proteins (-205) which were relatively highest among other drug candidates used. Interestingly, compounds with low IC50 showed high binding energy. Furthermore, machine learning algorithm also revealed high applicability scores (0.42-0.47) of cordycepin. It is worth mentioning that the pharmacology network depicted the involvement of cordycepin in different pathways associated with bacterial and viral diseases including tuberculosis, hepatitis B, influenza A, viral myocarditis and herpes simplex infection. The embedded pharmacophore features with cordycepin also suggested strong structure-activity relationship (SAR). Cordycepin's anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity indicated 65% (E-gene) and 42% (N-gene) viral replication inhibition after 48h of treatment. Since cordycepin has both pre-clinical and clinical evidence on antiviral activity, in addition the present findings further validate and suggest repurposing potential of cordycepin against COVID-19.

PMID: 33289334 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Categories: Literature Watch

"drug repositioning" OR "drug repurposing"; +6 new citations

Tue, 2020-12-08 08:52

6 new pubmed citations were retrieved for your search. Click on the search hyperlink below to display the complete search results:

"drug repositioning" OR "drug repurposing"

These pubmed results were generated on 2020/12/08

PubMed comprises more than millions of citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. Citations may include links to full-text content from PubMed Central and publisher web sites.

Categories: Literature Watch

A review of COVID-19 biomarkers and drug targets: resources and tools.

Mon, 2020-12-07 08:22
Related Articles

A review of COVID-19 biomarkers and drug targets: resources and tools.

Brief Bioinform. 2020 Dec 07;:

Authors: Caruso FP, Scala G, Cerulo L, Ceccarelli M

Abstract
The stratification of patients at risk of progression of COVID-19 and their molecular characterization is of extreme importance to optimize treatment and to identify therapeutic options. The bioinformatics community has responded to the outbreak emergency with a set of tools and resource to identify biomarkers and drug targets that we review here. Starting from a consolidated corpus of 27 570 papers, we adopt latent Dirichlet analysis to extract relevant topics and select those associated with computational methods for biomarker identification and drug repurposing. The selected topics span from machine learning and artificial intelligence for disease characterization to vaccine development and to therapeutic target identification. Although the way to go for the ultimate defeat of the pandemic is still long, the amount of knowledge, data and tools generated so far constitutes an unprecedented example of global cooperation to this threat.

PMID: 33279954 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Categories: Literature Watch

In vitro evaluation of anti-fungal activity of tropicamide against strains of Candida spp. resistant to fluconazole in planktonic and biofilm form.

Sun, 2020-12-06 07:52
Related Articles

In vitro evaluation of anti-fungal activity of tropicamide against strains of Candida spp. resistant to fluconazole in planktonic and biofilm form.

J Mycol Med. 2020 Nov 11;31(1):101080

Authors: Machado CB, Rocha da Silva C, Daiana Barroso F, Campos RDS, Valente Sá LGDA, S Aires do Nascimento FB, Cavalcanti BC, Vitoriano Nobre Júnior H, Andrade Neto JB

Abstract
Candida spp. is considered to be the third or fourth most common cause of bloodstream infections associated with healthcare services in the world. Currently, several strains exhibit resistance to the traditional treatments, making the development of new therapeutic molecules necessary. Drug repositioning is an alternative that can be used to work around problems such as toxicity, cost and time in the development of new drugs. This study aims to evaluate the in vitro antifungal effect of tropicamide, molecule of anticholinergic action, against planktonic cells of Candida spp. and biofilm of C. albicans. Six strains of different Candida species were used to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of tropicamide and fluconazole according to CLSI document M27-A3 and one strain of C. albicans was used to evaluate the activity of tropicamide against biofilms. In concentrations of 64μg/mL, the tropicamide exhibited 50% of inhibitory activity in planktonic cell and in concentrations of 128μg/mL is able to inhibit the formation of C. albicans biofilm. Despite the inhibitory activity shown at the present study, the use of a larger number of strains, as well as in vivo cytotoxicity assays, is necessary to confirm the hypothesis that tropicamide can be used as an adjuvant agent in the treatment of infections by the Candida genus.

PMID: 33278803 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Categories: Literature Watch

Drug repurposing approach to combating coronavirus: Potential drugs and drug targets.

Sun, 2020-12-06 07:52
Related Articles

Drug repurposing approach to combating coronavirus: Potential drugs and drug targets.

Med Res Rev. 2020 Dec 05;:

Authors: Xu J, Xue Y, Zhou R, Shi PY, Li H, Zhou J

Abstract
In the past two decades, three highly pathogenic human coronaviruses severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, and, recently, SARS-CoV-2, have caused pandemics of severe acute respiratory diseases with alarming morbidity and mortality. Due to the lack of specific anti-CoV therapies, the ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) poses a great challenge to clinical management and highlights an urgent need for effective interventions. Drug repurposing is a rapid and feasible strategy to identify effective drugs for combating this deadly infection. In this review, we summarize the therapeutic CoV targets, focus on the existing small molecule drugs that have the potential to be repurposed for existing and emerging CoV infections of the future, and discuss the clinical progress of developing small molecule drugs for COVID-19.

PMID: 33277927 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Categories: Literature Watch

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