Category: CBL Articles

A new series of quinoxaline linked 1,2,4-triazole sulfonamide  derivatives were designed and efficiently synthesized. All compounds were characterized by their IR, ¹HNMR, ¹³CNMR, and Mass spectral data, and elemental analysis. The final compounds (5a-m) were screened for in vitro anti-proliferative activity against cancer cell lines HeLa (lung), A549 (carcinoma), MCF-7 (breast) and HCT116 (colon).The  results revealed that the compounds 5k, 5l and 5d have shown promising activity as compared to etoposide. Predominantly, the compound 5k displayed greater activity on HeLa, A549, MCF-7and HCT116 with IC₅₀ values of 1.97±0.09, 1.84±0.07, 3.10±0.04and 4.10±0.07 than the standard drug etoposide. Moreover, molecular docking studies of 5k, 5l and 5d on EGFR receptor suggested that the most potent compound 5k strongly binds to protein EGFR (pdbid: 4HJO). Furthermore, the compounds 5k and 5l displayed promising inhibitory activity over tyrosine kinase EGFR when compared with the standard erlotinib.

Dibenzofuran is an important heterocyclic compound and is an important part of various natural compounds. There are various medicinal compounds containing dibenzofurans, sold in the market to combat different human diseases and plant infections. Research on dibenzofuran is an advancing field in the medicinal science. Several compounds are under the clinical trials and are expected to be utilized in various treatments. This review article encompasses various advancements in the study of these dibenzo derivatives. The biological activity of these scaffolds hovering around cytotoxicity of the cells, bacterial infections, fungal infections, type-2 diabetes, platelet coagulation and in the effective skin treatment, has been discussed in the following article.  The toxicology of the compound is also argued and selected biological applications are hereby discussed to make easier for the researchers to have a consolidated sight over the topic.

The growth of amyloid β peptides arises from inappropriate cleavage of amyloid precursor protein that induces the formation of amyloid plaques in the brain. An excessive accumulation of amyloid β plaques promotes the development of dementia, specifically Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Histopathological evidence suggested that insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes condition have a stronger correlation with Alzheimer’s disease development. An increasing concentration of amyloid β leads to impaired binding of insulin to its receptor. Previous studies suggested that the monomeric form of amyloid β was the potential molecule, which can compete with insulin for receptor binding. The objective of this work was to study the molecular interactions of insulin and amyloid β to insulin receptors using protein-protein docking and molecular dynamics Simulations. Analysis of docked complexes suggested that there are common insulin receptor residues for insulin and amyloid β binding. Further molecular dynamics Simulations study reveals that the monomeric form of amyloid β interacts with a similar set of receptor residues as observed in the insulin-insulin receptor complex.

The evolution of lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) has been remarkably interesting and in beneficent directions for food and health industries working towards human well being. Since the discovery of the first-generation lipid based self-assembled nanostructures, i.e., liposomes in the 1960s, it has witnessed significant advances in their development and distinctive potential in different application domains. Based on the composition and structure, these lipid based structures have varied from liposome to lipid nanoparticles such as nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) and solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) to overcome certain limitation pertaining to their use in different fields. The outstanding application of LNPs as therapeutic delivery systems has made them key players to treat different human disorders including the fatal cancers. Their life-saving global contribution has recently been witnessed in the form of mRNA vaccines against deadly COVID-19. They have also significantly served purpose in other domains such as biomedical imaging, cosmetics, nutrition, and agriculture. Their prominent role is in the area of anticancer therapy as delivery vectors for nucleic acids and drugs. Some issues with respect to the cellular delivery of drugs and genes, such as circulation time and stability have been somewhat resolved, but the unmet goal of site-specific substantial delivery remains the main focus in LNPs development research. Despite the promise shown by LNPs in animal studies and the fact that technological advances in LNPs research have made the approval possible of a few formulations, therapeutic outcomes in human are not satisfactory. The LNPs technology has managed to survive due to possible tailoring of their properties by virtue of the possibility of altering the composition and modifying the surface. Therefore, enormous scientific endeavours are on the rise to transform lipid structures, composition along with tinkering with surface of LNPs. The alternative methods to guide LNPs coupled with advances in small molecule nucleic acid therapeutics and drug development technology to make the entry possible to specific cells may be effective in cancer therapy. The development is very promising; however enduring efforts are required till the goal is reached.

Gut microbiota broadly impacts human health, but urinary microbial metabolites remain largely undefined. The concentration of microbial metabolites can be directly correlated with microbial populations in the human gut to define disease states. Tinospora cordifolia (Willd.) Miers ex Hook. F. & Thoms is being used for ages in the Indian ayurvedic system of medicine and it has hypolipidemic and hypoglycaemic activity. Present study investigate the MS-based metabolomics variations of possible gut microbiota associated metabolites in hyperlipidemia (HPL) and HPL treated with Tinospora cordifolia extract (TCE) (TRT). Twenty-four HPL male patients and 10 age-matched controls (HLT) were enrolled. Early morning fasting blood and urine samples were collected on days 0 and 14^th of TCE treatment and subjected to lipid profiling and Q-TOF-MS analysis. Multivariate analysis showed urinary levels of urocanic acid, hydroxyphenylacetate, linolenic acid, phenylpropionate, hypoxanthine, and indole acetate produced by Peptostreptococcs asaccharolyticus, Clostridium difficile, Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, Bifidobacterium, Subdoligranulum, Lactobacillus, Clostridium sporogenes, E. coli were depleted in HPL patients as compared to healthy controls. In contrast, levels of serotonin, acetylleucine, hippuric acid, and arabinitol were found to be increased (>2.0 fold, p<0.005). However, TCE treatment reverted the levels of these metabolites and therefore, gut microflora. Also, Cloacibacterium haliotis, Lactobacillus, Clostridium, and Bifidobacterium population decreased in HPL patients. Increased secretion of yeast or Candida albicans associated metabolites was because of their increased population. Hence, TCE treatment enhanced the growth of useful gut microbiota in hyperlipidemia patients.

The origin of COVID-19 pandemic, caused by SARS-CoV-2, was traced to Wuhan, China. Thereafter, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) evolved into various variants owing to genome-wide mutations, causing emergence of multiple variants, including Variant of Interest and Variant of Concern. Here, we discuss genomic architecture of SARS-CoV-2, as well as its multiple variants- alpha, beta, gamma, and delta, along with their biological properties, such as transmissibility, reduction in antibody-mediated neutralization, virulence, disease severity, vaccine effectiveness, and the prevalence across the India vis-à-vis world. Our data on VOC, pooled from the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data up to 31 October 2021, shows around 89% prevalence of delta VOC across various Indian States. Whereas alpha, beta, and gamma variants show 10.44%, 0.57%, and 0.11% prevalence, respectively. Compared with global scale, the reported Indian prevalence of alpha, beta, gamma, and delta are 0.40%, 0.63%, 0.04%, and 1.7%, respectively. Furthermore, prevalent vaccines of various natures show significantly reduced effectiveness against these VOCs, necessitating urgent need for development of effective prophylactic vaccines and potential therapy to contain the pandemic.

Plants and their extracts have been extensively studied for their efficacy in therapeutic applications. Their Essential Oils (EOs) are responsible for the majority of biological properties such as anticancer, antibacterial and antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and cardio-protective. The utilization of natural compounds is gaining a lot of attention these days. These oils act as natural alternatives to the modern medical system to cure the illness that occurs in the biological system. This review provides an overview of the impact of the two most important plant-based oils: Mustard oil and Olive oil, the role of their components in different biological activities leading to their therapeutic applications. Their intake provides health benefits by controlling the symptoms of the diseases that involve cancer, bacterial infections, inflammation, cardiovascular, and some other common diseases. Most of the results come from in vitro and in vivo studies. However, their use in clinical studies is very little known.

COVID-19, a perilous disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, has brought a massive damage to humankind, and turned into a global catastrophe. It was first reported in Wuhan, China in December 2019 and since then has been a constant source of worry for the scientists and the medical world, due to the carnage it has caused globally. Extensive clinical studies are being carried to explore drug therapy and prophylaxis to combat this pestilence.  It is still an excessively big challenge for the scientists and pharmacological industry to develop potential drugs for the treatment of this deadly virus. At present though no specific drug has been identified as a perfect cure for this zoonotic disease, medical practitioners are using the therapy of repurposing of drugs for the treatment. Systemic research was carried out through e-resources to identify drugs for the treatment of COVID-19. A recent proposal of 2-DG drug as a cure for COVID-19 has also been discussed in this review.

COVID-19, caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, has put most of the world under lockdown. Despite approved vaccines, COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths have remained on the rise. Rapid diagnosis and necessary public health measures are still key parts to contain the pandemic. Here, the colorimetric isothermal nucleic acid amplification tests (iNAATs) for SARS-CoV-2 detection based on loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), cross-priming amplification (CPA), and polymerase spiral reaction (PSR) were designed and compared in performance for the first time. The findings showed that, for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 genomic-RNA, LAMP outperformed both CPA and PSR, exhibiting the limit of detection (LOD) of roughly 43.14 copies/reaction. The results can be read with the naked eye within 45 minutes, without cross-reactivity to closely related coronaviruses. The direct detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in simulated specimens by iNAATs was also successful. Additionally, the lyophilized reagents for LAMP reactions maintained the sensitivity and LOD of the liquid assays. The colorimetric LAMP assay was validated using clinical samples, showing 98.1% sensitivity and 100% specificity upon using extracted samples and 82.4% sensitivity and 86.2% specificity upon using unextracted specimens. The results indicate that the direct colorimetric LAMP assay developed is highly suitable for detecting SARS-CoV-2 at point-of-care.