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Background and purpose: Flavonoids are a group of phytochemicals found abundantly in various plants. Scientific evidence has revealed that flavonoids display potential biological activities, including their ability to alleviate inflammation. This activity is closely related to their action in blocking the inflammatory cascade and inhibiting the production of pro-inflammatory factors. However, as flavonoids typically have poor bioavailability and pharmacokinetic profile, it is quite challenging to establish these compounds as a drug. Nevertheless, progressive advancements in drug delivery systems, particularly in nanotechnology, have shown promising approaches to overcome such challenges. Review approach: This narrative review provides an overview of scientific knowledge about the mechanism of action of flavonoids in the mitigation of inflammatory reaction prior to delivering a comprehensive discussion about the opportunity of the nanotechnology-based delivery system in the preparation of the flavonoid-based drug. Key results: Various studies conducted in silico, in vitro, in vivo, and clinical trials have deciphered that the anti-inflammatory activities of flavonoids are closely linked to their ability to modulate various biochemical mediators, enzymes, and signalling pathways involved in the inflammatory processes. This compound could be encapsulated in nanotechnology platforms to increase the solubility, bioavailability, and pharmacological activity of flavonoids as well as reduce the toxic effects of these compounds. Conclusion: In Summary, we conclude that flavonoids and their derivates have given promising results in their development as new anti-inflammatory drug candidates, especially if they formulate in nanoparticles.
RESUMEN
Introduction: The current incidence of the novel coronavirus disease has shown only small reductions of cases and has become a major public health challenge. Development of effective vaccines against the virus is still being encouraged such as multi-epitope vaccines designed from the components of SARS-CoV-2 including its spike, nucleocapsid and ORF1a proteins. Since the addition of adjuvants including HABA protein and L7/L12 ribosomal are considered helpful to increase the effectiveness of the designed vaccine, we proposed to design multiepitope vaccines by two different adjuvants. Methods: We used the IEDB server to predict BCL and TCL epitopes that were characterized using online tools including VaxiJen, AllPred and IL-10 Prediction. The selected epitopes were further constructed into multiepitope vaccines. We also added two different adjuvants to the vaccine components in order to increase the effectiveness of the vaccines. The 3D-structured vaccines were built using trRosetta. They were further docked with different Toll-like-receptors (TLR 3, 4 and 8) and the entry receptor of SARS-CoV-2, ACE2 using ClusPro, PatchDock and refined by FireDock. All structures were visualized by USCF Chimera and PyMOL. Results: In this study, we succeeded in designing two different candidate vaccines by the addition of HABA protein and L7/L12 ribosomal as adjuvants. The two vaccines were almost equally good in terms of their physicochemical properties and characteristics. Likewise, their strong interactions with TLR3 4, 8 and ACE2 show the lowest energy level of both was estimated at more than -1,000. Interactions of vaccines with ACE2 and TLRs are essential for activation of immune responses and production of antibodies. Conclusion: The two designed and constructed multiepitope vaccine have good characteristics and may have the potential to activate humoral and cellular immune responses against SARS-CoV-2. Further research is worth considering to confirm the findings of this study.
