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Spatholobi caulis (SC), the dried vine stem of Spatholobus suberectus Dunn, is known as Ji Xue Teng in China, and has long been used as traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) to treat anaemia, menstrual abnormalities, rheumatoid arthritis, purpura, etc. The aim of this review is to provide a systematic and updated summary of the traditional uses, chemical constituents, biological activities and clinical applications of SC. In addition, several suggestions for future research on SC are also proposed. Extensive information and data on SC were obtained from electronic databases (ScienceDirect, Web of Science, PubMed, CNKI, Baidu Scholar, Google Scholar, ResearchGate, SpringerLink and Wiley Online). Additional information was collected from Ph.D. and MSc dissertations, published books, and classic material medica. To date, phytochemical studies have revealed that approximately 243 chemical ingredients have been isolated from SC and identified, including flavonoids, glycosides, phenolic acids, phenylpropanoids, volatile oils, sesquiterpenoids and other compounds. Many studies have indicated that extracts and pure constituents from SC possess a wide spectrum of in vitro and in vivo pharmacological effects, such as anti-tumour, haematopoietic, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, antioxidant, antiviral and antibacterial effects, as well as other activities. SC could be applied to the treatment of leukopenia, aplastic anemic, endometriosis, etc. according to the clinical reports. The traditional efficacies of SC is due to the biological functions of its chemical compounds, especially flavonoids. However, research investigating the toxicological effects of SC is relatively limited. SC is widely used in TCM formulae and its some traditional efficacies has been confirmed by extensive recent pharmacological and clinical studies. Most the biological activities of the SC may be attributed to flavonoids. However, in-depth studies on the molecular mechanisms of the effective ingredients and extracts of SC are limited. Further systematic studies focusing on pharmacokinetics, toxicology and quality control are needed to ensure the effective and safe application of SC. [Display omitted] • All isolated and identified compounds in Satholobi caulis (SC) were described in this review. • The modern researches on traditional efficacies of SC were summarized. • SC is expected to be an important source of anti-tumor and anti-anemia drugs development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent wide spreading of the H5N1 avian influenza virus (AIV) in Asia, Europe and Africa and its ability to cause fatal infections in human has raised serious concerns about a pending global flu pandemic. Neuraminidase (NA) inhibitors are currently the only option for treatment or prophylaxis in humans infected with this strain. However, drugs currently on the market often meet with rapidly emerging resistant mutants and only have limited application as inadequate supply of synthetic material. To dig out helpful information for designing potent inhibitors with novel structures against the NA, we used automated docking, CoMFA, CoMSIA, and HQSAR methods to investigate the quantitative structure–activity relationship for 126 NA inhibitors (NIs) with great structural diversities and wide range of bioactivities against influenza A virus. Based on the binding conformations discovered via molecular docking into the crystal structure of NA, CoMFA and CoMSIA models were successfully built with the cross-validated q 2 of 0.813 and 0.771, respectively. HQSAR was also carried out as a complementary study in that HQSAR technique does not require 3D information of these compounds and could provide a detailed molecular fragment contribution to the inhibitory activity. These models also show clearly how steric, electrostatic, hydrophobicity, and individual fragments affect the potency of NA inhibitors. In addition, CoMFA and CoMSIA field distributions are found to be in well agreement with the structural characteristics of the corresponding binding sites. Therefore, the final 3D-QSAR models and the information of the inhibitor–enzyme interaction should be useful in developing novel potent NA inhibitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dengue virus is endemic throughout tropical and subtropical regions, and cause severe epidemic diseases. The NS2B/NS3 protease is a promising drug target for dengue virus. Herein, we report the discovery and modification of a novel class of thiadiazoloacrylamide derivatives with potent inhibitory activity against the NS2B/NS3 protease. Thiadiazolopyrimidinone 1 was firstly determined as a new chemical structure against NS2B/NS3 from a commercial compound library. Then, we sought to identify similar compounds with the thiadiazoloacrylamide core that would exhibit better activity. A series of analogues were synthesized and fourteen of them were identified with strong inhibitory activities, in which the nitrile group in the linker part was discovered as an essential group for the inhibitory activity. The best of these ( 8b ) demonstrated an IC 50 at 2.24 μM based on in vitro DENV2 NS2B-NS3pro assays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A series of novel thiophene derivatives was designed, synthesized and their activities as competitive inhibitors of protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTPs) 1B (PTP1B) inhibitors were evaluated. All the compounds showed inhibitory potencies, and 10 of these exhibited moderate inhibitory activities with IC50 values less than 10μM. The activity of the most potent compound P28 (IC50 =2.1μM) was 15 times higher than that of the hit compound P01. Further, four representative compounds (P19, P22, P28, and P31) demonstrated remarkably high selectivities against other PTPs (e.g., PTPα, LAR, CD45, and TCPTP); P19 exhibited greater than sixfold selectivity over highly homologous TCPTP. More importantly, these compounds are permeable to cell membranes. The treatment of CHO-K1 cells with P28 (10μM) resulted in increased phosphorylation of AKT, which suggested extensive cellular activity of this compound. The novel chemical entities reported in this study could be used for overcoming the poor selectivity and low cellular activity of PTP1B inhibitors and might represent a starting point for development of therapeutic PTP inhibitors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The discovery of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) antagonists (also termed “selective PPARγ modulators, SPPARγM”) is now of a great interest in the treatment of diabetes and obesity. The structure of compound 1a (G3335, Fig. 1), a novel class of PPARγ antagonist, is entirely different from that of other reported PPARγ antagonists. A series of 35 novel analogues (1b–l, 9a–d, 13a–t) were designed, synthesized and evaluated against the agonistic effects exerted by rosiglitazone. These results indicated that most functional groups of 1a were conserved, and six new compounds (1b, 1c, and 9a–d) exhibited strong PPARγ antagonistic activities (IC50 values of 5.2–25.8μM) against 10μM rosiglitazone in the promotion of the PPARγ–LBD–CBP (ligand-binding domain and cAMP-response-element binding protein) interaction as investigated by yeast two-hybrid technology based assay. Molecular modeling studies for compounds 1a–d, 1h, 9c–d, and 13a were also presented. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]