Combined inhibition of monoacylglycerol lipase and cyclooxygenases synergistically reduces neuropathic pain in mice.

Background And Purpose: Neuropathic pain is commonly treated with GABA analogues, steroids or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). NSAIDs inhibit one or more COX isozymes but chronic COX inhibition paradoxically increases gastrointestinal inflammation and risk of unwanted cardiovascular events. The cannabinoids also have analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties and reduce neuropathic pain in animal models.

Targeting multiple cannabinoid anti-tumour pathways with a resorcinol derivative leads to inhibition of advanced stages of breast cancer.

Background And Purpose: The psychoactive cannabinoid Δ(9) -tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and the non-psychoactive cannabinoid cannabidiol (CBD) can both reduce cancer progression, each through distinct anti-tumour pathways. Our goal was to discover a compound that could efficiently target both cannabinoid anti-tumour pathways.

Experimental Approach: To measure breast cancer cell proliferation/viability and invasion, MTT and Boyden chamber assays were used.

Asexual populations of the human malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, use a two-step genomic strategy to acquire accurate, beneficial DNA amplifications.

Malaria drug resistance contributes to up to a million annual deaths. Judicious deployment of new antimalarials and vaccines could benefit from an understanding of early molecular events that promote the evolution of parasites. Continuous in vitro challenge of Plasmodium falciparum parasites with a novel dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHODH) inhibitor reproducibly selected for resistant parasites.

The monoacylglycerol lipase inhibitor JZL184 suppresses inflammatory pain in the mouse carrageenan model.

Aim: The present study tested whether the selective monoacylglycerol lipase (MAGL) inhibitor JZL184 would reduce allodynia and paw edema in the carrageenan test.

Main Methods: The anti-edematous and anti-allodynic effects of JZL184 were compared to those of PF-3845, an inhibitor of fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH), and diclofenac, a non-selective cyclooxygenase inhibitor. Cannabinoid receptor involvement in the anti-edematous and anti-allodynic effects of JZL184 was evaluated by administration of the respective CB1 and CB2 receptor antagonists rimonabant and SR144528 as well as with CB1(-/-) and CB2(-/-) mice.

Lead optimization of aryl and aralkyl amine-based triazolopyrimidine inhibitors of Plasmodium falciparum dihydroorotate dehydrogenase with antimalarial activity in mice.

Malaria is one of the leading causes of severe infectious disease worldwide; yet, our ability to maintain effective therapy to combat the illness is continually challenged by the emergence of drug resistance. We previously reported identification of a new class of triazolopyrimidine-based Plasmodium falciparum dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (PfDHODH) inhibitors with antimalarial activity, leading to the discovery of a new lead series and novel target for drug development. Active compounds from the series contained a triazolopyrimidine ring attached to an aromatic group through a bridging nitrogen atom.

Structural plasticity of malaria dihydroorotate dehydrogenase allows selective binding of diverse chemical scaffolds.

Malaria remains a major global health burden and current drug therapies are compromised by resistance. Plasmodium falciparum dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (PfDHODH) was validated as a new drug target through the identification of potent and selective triazolopyrimidine-based DHODH inhibitors with anti-malarial activity in vivo. Here we report x-ray structure determination of PfDHODH bound to three inhibitors from this series, representing the first of the enzyme bound to malaria specific inhibitors.

Catalytic and ligand-binding characteristics of Plasmodium falciparum serine hydroxymethyltransferase.

The plant-like, bifunctional dihydrofolate reductase-thymidylate synthase (DHFR-TS) from malaria parasites has been a good target for drug development. Dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) is inhibited by clinically established antimalarials, pyrimethamine and cycloguanil. Thymidylate synthase (TS) is the target of potent experimental antimalarials such as 5-fluoroorotate and 1843U89.

Identification of a metabolically stable triazolopyrimidine-based dihydroorotate dehydrogenase inhibitor with antimalarial activity in mice.

Plasmodium falciparum causes 1-2 million deaths annually. Yet current drug therapies are compromised by resistance. We previously described potent and selective triazolopyrimidine-based inhibitors of P.

Triazolopyrimidine-based dihydroorotate dehydrogenase inhibitors with potent and selective activity against the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum.

A Plasmodium falciparum dihydroorotate dehydrogenase ( PfDHODH) inhibitor that is potent ( KI = 15 nM) and species-selective (>5000-fold over the human enzyme) was identified by high-throughput screening. The substituted triazolopyrimidine and its structural analogues were produced by an inexpensive three-step synthesis, and the series showed good association between PfDHODH inhibition and parasite toxicity. This study has identified the first nanomolar PfDHODH inhibitor with potent antimalarial activity in whole cells (EC50 = 79 nM).

Kinetics and ligand-binding preferences of Mycobacterium tuberculosis thymidylate synthases, ThyA and ThyX.

Background: Mycobacterium tuberculosis kills approximately 2 million people each year and presents an urgent need to identify new targets and new antitubercular drugs. Thymidylate synthase (TS) enzymes from other species offer good targets for drug development and the M. tuberculosis genome contains two putative TS enzymes, a conventional ThyA and a flavin-based ThyX.

Analysis of flavin oxidation and electron-transfer inhibition in Plasmodium falciparum dihydroorotate dehydrogenase.

Plasmodium falciparum dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (pfDHODH) is a flavin-dependent mitochondrial enzyme that provides the only route to pyrimidine biosynthesis in the parasite. Clinically significant inhibitors of human DHODH (e.g.