Identification of structural scaffold from interbioscreen (IBS) database to inhibit 3CLpro, PLpro, and RdRp of SARS-CoV-2 using molecular docking and dynamic simulation studies.

A novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has caused a worldwide pandemic and remained a severe threat to the entire human population. Researchers worldwide are struggling to find an effective drug treatment to combat this deadly disease. Many FDA-approved drugs from varying inhibitory classes and plant-derived compounds are screened to combat this virus. Still, due to the lack of structural information and several mutations of this virus, initial drug discovery efforts have limited success. A high-resolution crystal structure of important proteins like the main protease (3CLpro) that are required for SARS-CoV-2 viral replication and polymerase (RdRp) and papain-like protease (PLpro) as a vital target in other coronaviruses still presents important targets for the drug discovery. With this knowledge, scaffold library of Interbioscreen (IBS) database was explored through molecular docking, MD simulation and postdynamic binding free energy studies. The 3D docking structures and simulation data for the IBS compounds was studied and articulated. The compounds were further evaluated for ADMET studies using QikProp and SwissADME tools. The results revealed that the natural compounds STOCK2N-00385, STOCK2N-00244, and STOCK2N-00331 interacted strongly with 3CLpro, PLpro, and RdRp, respectively, and ADMET data was also observed in the range of limits for almost all the compounds with few exceptions. Thus, it suggests that these compounds may be potential inhibitors of selected target proteins, or their structural scaffolds can be further optimized to obtain effective drug candidates for SARS-CoV-2. The findings of in-silico data need to be supported by in-vivo studies which could shed light on understanding the exact mode of inhibitory action.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Strategic analyses to identify key structural features of antiviral/antimalarial compounds for their binding interactions with 3CLpro, PLpro and RdRp of SARS-CoV-2: in silico molecular docking and dynamic simulation studies.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), a novel member of the betacoronavirus family is a single-stranded RNA virus that has spread worldwide prompting the World Health Organization to declare a global pandemic. This creates an alarming situation and generates an urgent need to develop innovative therapeutic agents. In this context, an in silico molecular docking and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation study on the existing 58 antiviral and antimalarial compounds was performed on 3CLpro, PLpro and RdRp SARS-CoV-2 proteins. The antiviral compounds are best fitted in the binding pockets and interact more profoundly with the amino acid residues compared to antimalarial compounds. An HIV protease inhibitor, saquinavir showed a good dock score and binding free energy with varied binding interactions against 3CLpro and PLpro. While, adefovir, a nucleotide HBV DNA polymerase inhibitor exhibited good dock score and binding interactions against RdRp. Although, the antimalarial compounds showed relatively less dock score but were found to be crucial in displaying essential binding interactions with these proteins. The MD simulation runs for 100 ns on 3CLpro-saquinavir, PLpro-saquinavir and RdRp-adefovir complexes using Desmond revealed fairly stable nature of interactions. This study helped in understanding the key interactions of the vital functionalities that provide a concrete base to develop lead molecules effective against SARS-CoV-2.

Small interfering RNA for cancer treatment: overcoming hurdles in delivery.

In many ways, cancer cells are different from healthy cells. A lot of tactical nano-based drug delivery systems are based on the difference between cancer and healthy cells. Currently, nanotechnology-based delivery systems are the most promising tool to deliver DNA-based products to cancer cells. This review aims to highlight the latest development in the lipids and polymeric nanocarrier for siRNA delivery to the cancer cells. It also provides the necessary information about siRNA development and its mechanism of action. Overall, this review gives us a clear picture of lipid and polymer-based drug delivery systems, which in the future could form the base to translate the basic siRNA biology into siRNA-based cancer therapies.

Emergence of Three Dimensional Printed Cardiac Tissue: Opportunities and Challenges in Cardiovascular Diseases.

Three-dimensional (3D) printing, also known as additive manufacturing, was developed originally for engineering applications. Since its early advancements, there has been a relentless development in enthusiasm for this innovation in biomedical research. It allows for the fabrication of structures with both complex geometries and heterogeneous material properties. Tissue engineering using 3D bio-printers can overcome the limitations of traditional tissue engineering methods. It can match the complexity and cellular microenvironment of human organs and tissues, which drives much of the interest in this technique. However, most of the preliminary evaluations of 3Dprinted tissues and organ engineering, including cardiac tissue, relies extensively on the lessons learned from traditional tissue engineering. In many early examples, the final printed structures were found to be no better than tissues developed using traditional tissue engineering methods. This highlights the fact that 3D bio-printing of human tissue is still very much in its infancy and more work needs to be done to realise its full potential. This can be achieved through interdisciplinary collaboration between engineers, biomaterial scientists and molecular cell biologists. This review highlights current advancements and future prospects for 3D bio-printing in engineering ex vivo cardiac tissue and associated vasculature, such as coronary arteries. In this context, the role of biomaterials for hydrogel matrices and choice of cells are discussed. 3D bio-printing has the potential to advance current research significantly and support the development of novel therapeutics which can improve the therapeutic outcomes of patients suffering fatal cardiovascular pathologies.

Comparison of UV spectrophotometry and high performance liquid chromatography methods for the determination of repaglinide in tablets.

BACKGROUND: Repaglinide is a miglitinide class of antidiabetic drug used for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. A fast and reliable method for the determination of repaglinide was highly desirable to support formulation screening and quality control. OBJECTIVE: UV spectrophotometric and reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) methods were developed for determination of repaglinide in the tablet dosage form. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The UV spectrum recorded between 200 400 nm using methanol as solvent and the wavelength 241 nm was selected for the determination of repaglinide. RP-HPLC analysis was carried out using Agilent TC-C18 (2) column and mobile phase composed of methanol and water (80:20 v/v, pH adjusted to 3.5 with orthophosphoric acid) at a flow rate of 1.0 ml/min. Parameters such as linearity, precision, accuracy, recovery, specificity and ruggedness are studied as reported in the International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guidelines. RESULTS: The developed methods illustrated excellent linearity (r(2) > 0.999) in the concentration range of 5-30 µg/ml and 5-50 µg/ml for UV spectrophotometric and HPLC methods, respectively. Precision (%R.S.D < 1.50) and mean recoveries were found in the range of 99.63-100.45% for UV spectrophotometric method and 99.71-100.25% for HPLC method which shows accuracy of the methods. CONCLUSION: The developed methods were found to be reliable, simple, fast, accurate and successfully used for the quality control of repaglinide as a bulk drug and in pharmaceutical formulations.

Synthesis of some thiazolyl aminobenzothiazole derivatives as potential antibacterial, antifungal and anthelmintic agents.

A series of 4-(6-substituted-1,3-benzothiazol-2-yl)amino-2-(4-substitutedphenyl)- amino-1,3-thiazoles, 9-24 have been synthesised from 2-chloro-N-(6-substituted-1,3-benzothiazol-2-yl)acetamides, 5-8. The structures of these compounds have been elucidated by spectral (IR, (1)H NMR, Mass) and elemental (C, H, N) analysis data. All the newly synthesised compounds (9-24) were screened for their antibacterial, antifungal and anthelmintic activities. Almost all of these compounds showed moderate to good antimicrobial activity against two gram negative bacteria (E. coli, P. aeruginosa), two gram positive bacteria (S. aureus, B. subtilis), pathogenic fungal strains (C. albicans, A. niger) and good anthelmintic activity against earthworm species (P. corethruses). Compounds 18 and 20 exhibited good antibacterial and antifungal activities, while compound 22 displayed the most significant anthelmintic activity.

Synthesis, anticonvulsant activity and 3D-QSAR study of some prop-2-eneamido and 1-acetyl-pyrazolin derivatives of aminobenzothiazole.

A series of 6-substituted-[3-substituted-prop-2-eneamido]benzothiazole 9-32 and 6-substituted-2-[(1-acetyl-5-substituted)-2-pyrazolin-3-yl]aminobenzothiazole 33-56 were synthesized using appropriate synthetic route and evaluated experimentally against maximal electroshock test. Selected compounds were evaluated for neurotoxicity, hepatotoxicity and behavioral study. The most active compound, 6-methyl-2-[(1-acetyl-5-(4-chlorophenyl))-2-pyrazolin-3-yl]aminobenzothiazole 52 exhibited an ED50 of 25.49 micromol/kg, TD50 of 123.87 micromol/kg and high protective index (PI) of 4.86 compared to standard drug phenytoin. The 3D-QSAR analysis was carried out by PHASE program and a statistically reliable model with good predictive power (r2=0.9220, q2=0.8144) was achieved. The 3D-QSAR plots illustrated insights into the structure activity relationship of these compounds which may aids in the design of potent aminobenzothiazole derivatives as anticonvulsant agents.