Pharmacologically induced proteolysis of histone deacetylase-6 attenuates influenza virus replication despite limited anti-tumor effects.

The protein deacetylase HDAC6 has been controversially linked to cancer cell proliferation and viral propagation. We analyzed whether a pharmacological depletion of HDAC6 with a recent proteolysis-targeting chimera (PROTAC) kills tumor cells. We show that low micromolar doses of the cereblon-based PROTAC TH170, but not its inactive analog TH170E, induce proteasomal degradation of HDAC6.

Psilocybin increases emotional empathy in patients with major depression.

Empathy plays a crucial role in interpersonal relationships and mental health. It is decreased in a variety of psychiatric disorders including major depression. Psilocybin, a promising candidate for treating depression, has been shown to acutely increase emotional empathy in healthy volunteers.

ProcCluster and procaine hydrochloride inhibit the replication of influenza A virus .

Introduction: Treatment of influenza A virus infections is currently limited to few direct acting antiviral substances. Repurposing other established pharmaceuticals as antivirals could aid in improving treatment options.

Methods: This study investigates the antiviral properties of ProcCluster and procaine hydrochloride, two derivatives of the local anesthetic procaine, in influenza A virus infection of A549, Calu-3 and MDCK cells.

[Psychedelic and dissociative agents in psychiatry: challenges in the treatment].

With the discovery of the antidepressive effects of ketamine and the increasing withdrawal of the pharmaceutical industry from the development of new psychotropic drugs, the psychiatric research into the clinical application of hallucinogens in psychiatry has literally blossomed in the last two decades. Promising results for various treatment approaches with psychedelic agents, such lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and psilocybin, and dissociative agents, such as ketamine and esketamine, have raised great hopes among researchers, clinicians and patients in recent years, so that there was already talk of a new era in psychiatry. As one of the first of these substances, in December 2019 intranasal esketamine was approved in the USA and the EU for the treatment of treatment-resistant depression and Switzerland followed in 2020.