Exploring the potential of drug repurposing for liver diseases: A comprehensive study.

Drug repurposing involves the investigation of existing drugs for new indications. It offers a great opportunity to quickly identify a new drug candidate at a lower cost than novel discovery and development. Despite the importance and potential role of drug repurposing, there is no specific definition that healthcare providers and the World Health Organization credit. Unfortunately, many similar and interchangeable concepts are being used in the literature, making it difficult to collect and analyze uniform data on repurposed drugs. This research was conducted based on understanding general criteria for drug repurposing, concentrating on liver diseases. Many drugs have been investigated for their effect on liver diseases even though they were originally approved (or on their way to being approved) for other diseases. Some of the hypotheses for drug repurposing were first captured from the literature and then processed further to test the hypothesis. Recently, with the revolution in bioinformatics techniques, scientists have started to use drug libraries and computer systems that can analyze hundreds of drugs to give a short list of candidates to be analyzed pharmacologically. However, this study revealed that drug repurposing is a potential aid that may help deal with liver diseases. It provides available or under-investigated drugs that could help treat hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, Wilson disease, liver cancer, and fatty liver. However, many further studies are needed to ensure the efficacy of these drugs on a large scale.

Stem Cells Reprogramming in Diabetes Mellitus and Diabetic Complications: Recent Advances.

BACKGROUND: The incidence of diabetes mellitus (DM) is dramatically increasing worldwide, and it is expected to affect 700 million cases by 2045. Diabetes influences health care economics, human quality of life, morbidity, and mortality, which were primarily seen extensively in developing countries. Uncontrolled DM, which results in consistent hyperglycemia, may lead to severe life-threatening complications such as nephropathy, retinopathy, neuropathy, and cardiovascular complications. METHODOLOGY: In addition to traditional therapies with insulin and oral anti-diabetics, researchers have developed new approaches for treatment, including stem cell (SC) therapy, which exhibits promising outcomes. Besides its significant role in treating type one DM (T1DM) and type two DM (T2DM), it can also attenuate diabetic complications. Furthermore, the development of insulin-producing cells can be achieved by using the different types of SCs, such as embryonic stem cells (ESCs), induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), and multiple types of adult stem cells, such as pancreatic, hepatic, and mesenchymal stem cells (MSC). All these types have been extensively studied and proved their ability to develop insulin-producing cells, but every type has limitations. CONCLUSION: This review aims to enlighten researchers about recent advances in stem cell research and their potential benefits in DM and diabetic complications.