Harmonization of QSAR Best Practices and Molecular Docking Provides an Efficient Virtual Screening Tool for Discovering New G-Quadruplex Ligands.

Telomeres and telomerase are key players in tumorogenesis. Among the various strategies proposed for telomerase inhibition or telomere uncapping, the stabilization of telomeric G-quadruplex (G4) structures is a very promising one. Additionally, G4 stabilizing ligands also act over tumors mediated by the alternative elongation of telomeres.

Discovery, biological evaluation, and structure-activity and -selectivity relationships of 6'-substituted (E)-2-(benzofuran-3(2H)-ylidene)-N-methylacetamides, a novel class of potent and selective monoamine oxidase inhibitors.

The use of selective inhibitors of monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) and B (MAO-B) holds a therapeutic relevance in the treatment of depressive disorders and Parkinson's disease (PD), respectively. Here, the discovery of a new class of compounds acting as monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAO-Is) and bearing a 6'-substituted (E)-2-(benzofuran-3(2H)-ylidene)-N-alkylacetamide skeleton is reported. 6'-Sulfonyloxy derivatives exhibited outstanding affinities to MAO-A (7.

Inactivation of the glutamine/amino acid transporter ASCT2 by 1,2,3-dithiazoles: proteoliposomes as a tool to gain insights in the molecular mechanism of action and of antitumor activity.

The ASCT2 transport system catalyses a sodium-dependent antiport of glutamine and other neutral amino acids which is involved in amino acid metabolism. A library of 1,2,3-dithiazoles was designed, synthesized and evaluated as inhibitors of the glutamine/amino acid ASCT2 transporter in the model system of proteoliposomes reconstituted with the rat liver transporter. Fifteen of the tested compounds at concentration of 20μM or below, inhibited more than 50% the glutamine/glutamine antiport catalysed by the reconstituted transporter.

Strategies of multi-objective optimization in drug discovery and development.

Introduction: Drug discovery and development is a typical multi-objective problem and its successes or failures depend on the simultaneous control of numerous, often conflicting, molecular and pharmacological properties. Multi-objective optimization strategies represent a new approach to capture the occurrence of varying optimal solutions based on trade-offs among the objectives taken into account. In view of this, multi-objective optimization aims to discover a set of satisfactory compromises that may in turn be used to find the global optimal solution by optimizing numerous dependent properties simultaneously.