Publications by authors named "Steff De Graef"

The lack of coronavirus-specific antiviral drugs has instigated multiple drug repurposing studies to redirect previously approved medicines for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus behind the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. A recent, large-scale, retrospective clinical study showed that famotidine, when administered at a high dose to hospitalized COVID-19 patients, reduced the rates of intubation and mortality. A separate, patient-reported study associated famotidine use with improvements in mild to moderate symptoms such as cough and shortness of breath.

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Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (aaRSs) have become viable targets for the development of antimicrobial agents due to their crucial role in protein translation. A series of six amino acids were coupled to the purine-like 7-amino-5-hydroxymethylbenzimidazole nucleoside analogue following an optimized synthetic pathway. These compounds were designed as aaRS inhibitors and can be considered as 1,3-dideazaadenine analogues carrying a 2-hydroxymethyl substituent.

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Despite of proven efficacy and well tolerability, albomycin is not used clinically due to scarcity of material. Several attempts have been made to increase the production of albomycin by chemical or biochemical methods. In the current study, we have synthesized the active moiety of albomycin δ1 and investigated its binding mode to its molecular target seryl-trna synthetase (SerRS).

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Antimicrobial resistance is considered as one of the major threats for the near future as the lack of effective treatments for various infections would cause more deaths than cancer by 2050. The development of new antibacterial drugs is considered as one of the cornerstones to tackle this problem. Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (aaRSs) are regarded as good targets to establish new therapies.

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The pyrimidine-containing Trojan horse antibiotics albomycin and a recently discovered cytidine-containing microcin C analog target the class II seryl- and aspartyl-tRNA synthetases (serRS and aspRS), respectively. The active components of these compounds are competitive inhibitors that mimic the aminoacyl-adenylate intermediate. How they effectively substitute for the interactions mediated by the canonical purine group is unknown.

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Emerging antibiotic resistance in pathogenic bacteria and reduction of compounds in the existing antibiotics discovery pipeline is the most critical concern for healthcare professionals. A potential solution aims to explore new or existing targets/compounds. Inhibition of bacterial aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase (aaRSs) could be one such target for the development of antibiotics.

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The superfamily of adenylate-forming enzymes all share a common chemistry. They activate a carboxylate group, on a specific substrate, by catalyzing the formation of a high energy mixed phosphoanhydride-linked nucleoside intermediate. Members of this diverse enzymatic family play key roles in a variety of metabolic pathways and therefore many have been regarded as drug targets.

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Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (aaRSs) catalyse the ATP-dependent coupling of an amino acid to its cognate tRNA. Being vital for protein translation aaRSs are considered a promising target for the development of novel antimicrobial agents. 5'-O-(N-aminoacyl)-sulfamoyl adenosine (aaSA) is a non-hydrolysable analogue of the aaRS reaction intermediate that has been shown to be a potent inhibitor of this enzyme family but is prone to chemical instability and enzymatic modification.

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Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (aaRSs) are enzymes that precisely attach an amino acid to its cognate tRNA. This process, which is essential for protein translation, is considered a viable target for the development of novel antimicrobial agents, provided species selective inhibitors can be identified. Aminoacyl-sulfamoyl adenosines (aaSAs) are potent orthologue specific aaRS inhibitors that demonstrate nanomolar affinities in vitro but have limited uptake.

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