Novel zafirlukast derivatives exhibit selective antibacterial activity against Porphyromonas gingivalis.

Periodontal disease is an oral chronic immune-inflammatory disease highly prevalent worldwide that is initiated by specific oral bacterial species leading to local and systemic effects. The development of new preventive/therapeutic strategies to specifically target oral periodontopathogens without perturbing oral microbiome species normally colonizing the oral cavity is needed. The fast and affordable strategy of repositioning of already FDA-approved drugs can be an answer to the development of novel treatments against periodontal pathogens such as Porphyromonas gingivalis. Herein, we report the synthesis and antibacterial activity of novel zafirlukast derivatives, their bactericidal effect, and their cytotoxicity against oral epithelial cell lines. Many of these derivatives exhibited superior antibacterial activity against P. gingivalis compared to the parent drug zafirlukast. The most promising compounds were found to be selective against P. gingivalis and they were bactericidal in their activity. Finally, we demonstrated that these potent derivatives of zafirlukast provided a better safety profile against oral epithelial cells compared to zafirlukast.

Biomarkers for cardiovascular disease: challenges and future directions.

The accurate diagnosis and prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is an important public health goal. Although clinical characteristics such as age and gender are well-established risk factors for CVD, such features are not sufficient to identify all patients at risk. Cardiovascular biomarkers have the potential to augment clinical risk stratification by aiding in screening, diagnosis and assessment of prognosis. However, most current biomarkers have only modest predictive value, and there is a need to identify additional biomarkers from new biological pathways. The availability of platforms for profiling DNA, RNA, proteins and metabolites in clinical specimens has facilitated the 'unbiased' search for new biomarkers, which can now be tested in a clinical setting. This review highlights recent developments in the field of cardiovascular biomarkers and describes the use of new technologies for the identification of biomarkers.

Evaluating the role of biomarkers for cardiovascular risk prediction: focus on CRP, BNP and urinary microalbumin.

Cardiovascular disease is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality, making cardiovascular prevention an important public health goal. The use of cardiac biomarkers represents a potential, noninvasive method to identify asymptomatic individuals who are most likely to develop cardiovascular disease. Several known biomarkers predict cardiovascular risk above and beyond conventional risk factors. Nonetheless, available evidence suggests that current biomarkers do not have sufficient sensitivity or specificity to justify widespread use for cardiovascular risk prediction. New developments in molecular biology and genetics may allow the identification of additional biomarkers, likely acting via different pathways, to achieve this goal.