The continuous and rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized the need to seek new therapeutic and prophylactic treatments. Peptide inhibitors are a valid alternative approach for the treatment of emerging viral infections, mainly due to their low toxicity and high efficiency. Recently, two small nucleotide signatures were identified in the genome of some members of the family and many other human pathogens. In this study, we investigated whether the corresponding amino acid sequences of such nucleotide sequences could have effects on the viral infection of two representative human coronaviruses: HCoV-OC43 and SARS-CoV-2. Our results showed that the synthetic peptides analyzed inhibit the infection of both coronaviruses in a dose-dependent manner by binding the RBD of the Spike protein, as suggested by molecular docking and validated by biochemical studies. The peptides tested do not provide toxicity on cultured cells or human erythrocytes and are resistant to human serum proteases, indicating that they may be very promising antiviral peptides.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/v14102103 | DOI Listing |
Int J Stroke
January 2025
Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA.
Background: The usual antithrombotic treatment for symptomatic intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis (ICAS) consists of dual treatment with clopidogrel and aspirin for 90 days followed by aspirin alone but the risk of recurrent stroke remains high up to 12 months. The Comparison of Anticoagulation and anti-Platelet Therapies for Intracranial Vascular Atherostenosis (CAPTIVA) trial was designed to determine whether other combinations of dual antithrombotic therapy are superior to clopidogrel and aspirin.
Methods: CAPTIVA is an ongoing, prospective, double-blinded, three-arm clinical trial at over 100 sites in the United States and Canada that will randomize 1683 high-risk subjects with a symptomatic infarct attributed to 70-99% stenosis of a major intracranial artery to 12 months of treatment with (1) ticagrelor (180 mg loading dose, then 90 mg twice daily), (2) low-dose rivaroxaban (2.
Br J Hosp Med (Lond)
January 2025
Department of Cardiology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu Medical College, Nuclear Industry 416 Hospital, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
Hypertension (HT) is a prevalent medical condition showing an increasing incidence rate in various populations over recent years. Long-term hypertension increases the risk of the occurrence of hypertensive nephropathy (HTN), which is also a health-threatening disorder. Given that very little is known about the pathogenesis of HTN, this study was designed to identify disease biomarkers, which enable early diagnosis of the disease, through the utilization of high-throughput untargeted metabolomics strategies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFViruses
January 2025
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biotechnology, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, Worcester, MA 01605, USA.
Enterovirus-D68 (EV68) continues to present as a global health issue causing respiratory illness and outbreaks associated with long-lasting neurological disease, with no antivirals or specific treatment options. The development of antiviral therapeutics, such as small-molecule inhibitors that target conserved proteins like the enteroviral 3C protease, remains to be achieved. While various 3C inhibitors have been investigated, their design does not consider the potential emergence of drug resistance mutations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPharmaceutics
January 2025
Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Trieste, Piazzale Europa 1, 34127 Trieste, Italy.
This study investigates the preparation of coamorphous systems composed entirely of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), namely praziquantel, niclosamide, and mebendazole. The objective was to formulate and characterize binary and ternary coamorphous systems to evaluate their structural, thermal, and stability properties. Ten different mixtures (binary and ternary) were designed through a mixture design approach and prepared using a sustainable, one-step neat grinding process in a lab-scale vibrational mill.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPharmaceutics
January 2025
University of Belgrade, Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy, Karnegijeva 4, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia.
To develop and evaluate graphene oxide/gelatin/alginate scaffolds for advanced wound therapy capable of mimicking the native extracellular matrix (ECM) and bio-stimulating all specific phases of the wound healing process, from inflammation and proliferation to the remodeling of damaged skin tissue in three dimensions. The scaffolds were engineered as interpenetrating polymeric networks by the crosslinking reaction of gelatin in the presence of alginate and characterized by structural, morphological, mechanical, swelling properties, porosity, adhesion to the skin tissue, wettability, and in vitro simultaneous release of the active agents. Biocompatibility of the scaffolds were evaluated in vitro by MTT test on fibroblasts (MRC5 cells) and in vivo using assay.
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