Qing-Guo Meng

Background/Objectives: Cancer persists as a leading concern in the current medical field, and current therapies are limited by toxicity, cost, and resistance. Targeted inhibition of tubulin polymerization is considered as a promising therapeutic strategy for cancer treatment. Methods: Thirty-one new tubulin polymerization inhibitors were designed via molecular hybridization techniques, and BLI technology was employed to quantitatively investigate their interactions with tubulin. Antiproliferative activities against MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, A549, and HeLa cell lines was evaluated using the CCK8 assay. Apoptosis induction and cell cycle arrest were analyzed by flow cytometry. The anti-tumor activity of compound B6 was validated in a mouse melanoma tumor model. Results: Compounds exhibited varying degrees of antiproliferative activity against four tumor cell lines. Among them, compound B6 was the most promising candidate and displayed strong broad-spectrum anticancer activity with an average IC₅₀ value of 2 μM. The mechanism studies revealed that compound B6 inhibited tubulin polymerization in vitro, disrupted cell microtubule networks, and arrested the cell cycle at G2/M phase. Furthermore, B6 displayed significant in vivo antitumor efficacy in a melanoma tumor model with tumor growth inhibition rates of 70.21% (50 mg/kg). Conclusions: This work shows that B6 is a promising lead compound deserving further investigation as a potential anticancer agent.

Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1) is a rate-limiting enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of tryptophan into kynurenine and represents a potential target for tumor immunotherapy. In this study, we designed and synthesized a series of N'-hydroxyamidine analogues through pharmacophore fusion and bioisosterism principles. The results indicated that compounds I-1 and I-2 exhibited activity similar to that of Epacadostat in inhibiting recombinant hIDO1 and hIDO1 expression in HeLa cells. Moreover, the compounds not only effectively stimulated T cell proliferation but also inhibited the proliferation of Lewis Lung Carcinoma cells. RNA sequencing analysis indicated that these compounds primarily exert immunotherapeutic effects. Surface plasmon resonance and molecular docking confirmed the interactions between the compounds and IDO1. The physicochemical properties along with pharmacokinetic profiles of both compounds were also predicted, and they were found to possess favorable characteristics. The active compounds developed in this research may serve as valuable references for discovering highly effective IDO1 inhibitors.

Correction for ‘Discovery of dibenzylbutane lignan LCA derivatives as potent anti-inflammatory agents’ by Zhen Wang et al. , RSC Med. Chem. , 2024, https://doi.org/10.1039/d4md00053f.

Inflammation is the body's response to defence against infection or injury, and is associated with the progression of many diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). LCA, a dibenzylbutane lignan extracted from the roots of traditional medicinal plant Litsea cubeba (Lour.) Pers., has demonstrated promising anti-inflammatory activity. In this study, a series of novel LCA derivatives were designed, synthesized, and evaluated for anti-inflammatory activity. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced RAW 264.7 cell model experiments showed that compound 10h (at 20 μM of concentration) had the strongest inhibitory effect on NO release, and inhibited the secretion and gene expression levels of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α in vitro. In addition, western blot, immunofluorescence, and molecular docking showed that the anti-inflammatory mechanism of compound 10h may be related to the nuclear factor (NF)-κB signalling pathway. In vivo studies based on a carrageenan-induced mouse paw edema model have shown significant anti-inflammatory activity of compound 10h at 20 mg kg⁻¹. Preliminary in vitro and in vivo studies indicate that compound 10h has the potential to be developed as a novel anti-inflammatory agent.

C₃₇H₅₂O₃, orthorhombic, P2₁2₁2₁ (no. 19), a = 8.2477(3) Å, b = 19.2976(7) Å, c = 19.6372(4) Å, V = 3125.47(17) ų, Z = 4, R _gt (F) = 0.0558, wR _ref (F ²) = 0.1728, T = 293 K. CCDC No.: 2283347

Paclitaxel, a natural secondary metabolite isolated and purified from the bark of the Taxus tree, is considered one of the most successful natural anticancer drugs due to its low toxicity, high potency and broad-spectrum anticancer activity. Taxus trees are scarce and slow-growing, and with extremely low paclitaxel content, the contradiction between supply and demand in the market is becoming more and more intense. Therefore, researchers have tried to obtain paclitaxel by various methods such as chemical synthesis, artificial culture, microbial fermentation and tissue cell culture to meet the clinical demand for this drug. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of paclitaxel extraction, combination therapy, total synthesis, semi-synthesis and biosynthesis in recent years and provides an outlook, aiming to provide a theoretical basis and reference for further research on the production and application of paclitaxel in the future.