Publications by authors named "Francesca Giacomina"

Inhibition of intracellular -acylethanolamine-hydrolyzing acid amidase (NAAA) activity is a promising approach to manage the inflammatory response under disabling conditions. In fact, NAAA inhibition preserves endogenous palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) from degradation, thus increasing and prolonging its anti-inflammatory and analgesic efficacy at the inflamed site. In the present work, we report the identification of a potent, systemically available, novel class of NAAA inhibitors, featuring a pyrazole azabicyclo[3.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a life-threatening autosomal recessive disease, caused by mutations in the CF transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) chloride channel. CFTR modulators have been reported to address the basic defects associated with CF-causing mutations, partially restoring the CFTR function in terms of protein processing and/or channel gating. Small-molecule compounds, called potentiators, are known to ameliorate the gating defect.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Amadoriases are a class of FAD-dependent enzymes that are found in fungi, yeast and bacteria and that are able to hydrolyze glycated amino acids, cleaving the sugar moiety from the amino acidic portion. So far, engineered Amadoriases have mostly found practical application in the measurement of the concentration of glycated albumin in blood samples. However, these engineered forms of Amadoriases show relatively low absolute activity and stability levels, which affect their conditions of use.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-based screening has been recognized as a powerful approach for the identification and characterization of molecules interacting with pharmaceutical targets. Indeed, several NMR methods have been developed and successfully applied to many drug discovery projects. Whereas most of these approaches have targeted isolated biomolecular receptors, very few cases are reported with the screening performed in intact cells and cell extracts.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A new strategy to access highly enantioenriched cyclic compounds (up to 98%) is proposed using omega-ethylenic allylic substrates through a one-pot asymmetric allylic alkylation and ring-closing metathesis. Such starting compounds can be seen as synthetic equivalents of cyclic allylic substrates.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF