Dietary flavonoids fisetin and myricetin: dual inhibitors of Plasmodium falciparum falcipain-2 and plasmepsin II.

Malaria is one of the most devastating infectious diseases in the developing world. Until now, only one candidate malaria vaccine RTS,S/AS01 has shown modest protection in phase 3 trial in African infants. Hence the treatment of malaria still depends on the current chemotherapeutic drugs.

Caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE), an active component of propolis, inhibits Helicobacter pylori peptide deformylase activity.

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a major causative factor for gastrointestinal illnesses, H. pylori peptide deformylase (HpPDF) catalyzes the removal of formyl group from the N-terminus of nascent polypeptide chains, which is essential for H.

Synthesis and biological activities of novel artemisinin derivatives as cysteine protease falcipain-2 inhibitors.

A series of novel artemisinin derivatives were synthesized from artemisinin and different anilines. All compounds were obtained as β-isomers. The target compounds were evaluated for inhibition activity against Plasmodium falciparum falcipain-2 in vitro, and most of them exhibited potent inhibition in the low micromolar range and proved to be new types of falcipain-2 inhibitors.

Synthesis and antimalarial activity of novel dihydro-artemisinin derivatives.

The Plasmodium falciparum cysteine protease falcipain-2, one of the most promising targets for antimalarial drug design, plays a key role in parasite survival as a major peptide hydrolase within the hemoglobin degradation pathway. In this work, a series of novel dihydroartemisinin derivatives based on (thio)semicarbazone scaffold were designed and synthesized as potential falcipain-2 inhibitors. The in vitro biological assay indicated that most of the target compounds showed excellent inhibition activity against P.