scholarly journals Docking-Based Screening of Cell-Penetrating Peptides with Antiviral Features and Ebola Virus Proteins as a Drug Discovery Approach to Develop a Treatment for Ebola Virus Disease

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ehsan Raoufi ◽  
Bahar Bahramimeimandi ◽  
Mahsa Darestanifarahani ◽  
Fatemeh Hosseini ◽  
Mohammad Salehi-Shadkami ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drug Discovery ◽  
Ebola Virus ◽  
Virus Disease ◽  
Cell Penetrating Peptides ◽  
New Drugs ◽  
Cell Penetrating ◽  
Therapeutic Molecules ◽  
Virus Proteins

Ebola drug discovery continues to be challenging as yet. Proteins of the virus should be targeted at the relevant biologically active site for drug or inhibitor binding to be effective. In this regard, by considering the important role of Ebola virus proteins in the viral mechanisms of this viral disease, the Ebola proteins are selected as our drug targets in this study. The discovery of novel therapeutic molecules or peptides will be highly expensive; therefore, we attempted to identify possible antigens of EBOV proteins by conducting docking-based screening of cell penetrating peptides (CPPs) that have antiviral potential features utilizing Hex software version 8.0.0. The E-value scores obtained in this research were very much higher than the previously reported docking studies. CPPs that possess suitable interaction with the targets would be specified as promising candidates for further in vitro and in vivo examination aimed at developing new drugs for Ebola infection treatment.

scholarly journals Cell-Penetrating Peptide Modified PEG-PLA Micelles for Efficient PTX Delivery

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 1856
Author(s):  
Qi Shuai ◽  
Yue Cai ◽  
Guangkuo Zhao ◽  
Xuanrong Sun
Keyword(s):  
Cell Penetrating Peptides ◽  
Mice Model ◽  
Block Polymer ◽  
Chemotherapy Drugs ◽  
Tumor Tissues ◽  
Cell Penetrating ◽  
20 Nm ◽  
Targeting Effect

On account of their excellent capacity to significantly improve the bioavailability and solubility of chemotherapy drugs, amphiphilic block copolymer-based micelles have been widely utilized for chemotherapy drug delivery. In order to further improve the antitumor ability and to also reduce undesired side effects of drugs, cell-penetrating peptides have been used to functionalize the surface of polymer micelles endowed with the ability to target tumor tissues. Herein, we first synthesized functional polyethylene glycol-polylactic acid (PEG-PLA) tethered with maleimide at the PEG section of the block polymer, which was further conjugated with a specific peptide, the transactivating transcriptional activator (TAT), with an approved capacity of aiding translocation across the plasma membrane. Then, TAT-conjugated, paclitaxel-loaded nanoparticles were self-assembled into stable nanoparticles with a favorable size of 20 nm, and displayed a significantly increased cytotoxicity, due to their enhanced accumulation via peptide-mediated cellular association in human breast cancer cells (MCF-7) in vitro. But when further used in vivo, TAT-NP-PTX showed an acceleration of the drug’s plasma clearance rate compared with NP-PTX, and therefore weakened its antitumor activities in the mice model, because of its positive charge, its elimination by the endoplasmic reticulum system more quickly, and its targeting effect on normal cells leading towards being more toxic. So further modification of TAT-NP-PTX to shield TAT peptide’s positive charges may be a hot topic to overcome the present dilemma.

scholarly journals Comprehensive physicochemical, pharmacokinetic and activity profiling of anti-TB agents

2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
pp. 857-867 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suresh B. Lakshminarayana ◽  
Tan Bee Huat ◽  
Paul C. Ho ◽  
Ujjini H. Manjunatha ◽  
Véronique Dartois ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drug Discovery ◽  
Volume Of Distribution ◽  
Metabolic Stability ◽  
New Drugs ◽  
Pharmacokinetic Parameters ◽  
Lipinski’S Rule ◽  
Drug Classes ◽  
Human Pharmacokinetic

Abstract Objectives The discovery and development of TB drugs has met limited success, with two new drugs approved over the last 40 years. Part of the difficulty resides in the lack of well-established in vitro or in vivo targets of potency and physicochemical and pharmacokinetic parameters. In an attempt to benchmark and compare such properties for anti-TB agents, we have experimentally determined and compiled these parameters for 36 anti-TB compounds, using standardized and centralized assays, thus ensuring direct comparability across drugs and drug classes. Methods Potency parameters included growth inhibition, cidal activity against growing and non-growing bacteria and activity against intracellular mycobacteria. Pharmacokinetic parameters included basic physicochemical properties, solubility, permeability and metabolic stability. We then attempted to establish correlations between physicochemical, in vitro and in vivo pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic indices to tentatively inform future drug discovery efforts. Results Two-thirds of the compounds tested showed bactericidal and intramacrophage activity. Most compounds exhibited favourable solubility, permeability and metabolic stability in standard in vitro pharmacokinetic assays. An analysis of human pharmacokinetic parameters revealed associations between lipophilicity and volume of distribution, clearance, plasma protein binding and oral bioavailability. Not surprisingly, most compounds with favourable pharmacokinetic properties complied with Lipinski's rule of five. Conclusions However, most attempts to detect in vitro–in vivo correlations were unsuccessful, emphasizing the challenges of anti-TB drug discovery. The objective of this work is to provide a reference dataset for the TB drug discovery community with a focus on comparative in vitro potency and pharmacokinetics.

scholarly journals The anticancer efficacy of paclitaxel liposomes modified with low-toxicity hydrophobic cell-penetrating peptides in breast cancer: an in vitro and in vivo evaluation

RSC Advances ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (43) ◽  
pp. 24084-24093 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qi Zhang ◽  
Jing Wang ◽  
Hao Zhang ◽  
Dan Liu ◽  
Linlin Ming ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Targeted Delivery ◽  
Cell Penetrating Peptides ◽  
Cell Penetrating Peptide ◽  
In Vivo Evaluation ◽  
Anticancer Efficacy ◽  
Cell Penetrating ◽  
Low Toxicity

Hydrophobic cell penetrating peptide PFVYLI-modified liposomes have been developed for the targeted delivery of PTX into tumors.

In vitro and in vivo delivery of therapeutic proteins using cell penetrating peptides

Peptides ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 87 ◽  
pp. 50-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Azam Bolhassani ◽  
Behnaz Sadat Jafarzade ◽  
Golnaz Mardani
Keyword(s):  
Therapeutic Proteins ◽  
Cell Penetrating Peptides ◽  
Cell Penetrating ◽  
In Vivo Delivery

scholarly journals Déjà vu: Stimulating Open Drug Discovery for SARS-CoV-2

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean Ekins ◽  
Melina Mottin ◽  
Paulo R. P. S. Ramos ◽  
Bruna K. P. Sousa ◽  
Bruno Junior Neves ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drug Discovery ◽  
Ebola Virus ◽  
Antiviral Drug ◽  
Open Science ◽  
Virus Rna ◽  
Deja Vu ◽  
Déjà Vu ◽  
Approved Drugs

In the past decade we have seen two major Ebola virus outbreaks in Africa, the Zika virus in Brazil and the current outbreak of coronavirus disease which has been named "severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2" (SARS-CoV-2). There is a strong sense of Déjà vu as the world is caught flat footed without effective treatments to administer to patients. Our team has been actively involved in several small molecule drug discovery efforts for the preceding virus outbreaks. In 2014 we used machine learning to identify 3 new molecules to test for the Ebola virus and these were subsequently shown to be active in vitro and in vivo. We have also been involved in open science approaches that leverage the community to help. In 2016 we launched the OpenZika project as an IBM World Community Grid Project that used distributed computing power of volunteers to dock large numbers of compounds into Zika and related flavivirus targets. This led us into several collaborations in which we validated computational predictions in vitro. With both of these initiatives there was some knowledge of the virus, many compounds had already been tested in the case of Ebola, whereas for Zika initially all we had was the virus RNA sequence. In the current SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, this was a completely new virus and the scientists in China and elsewhere have started from scratch. In the space of a few weeks since the outbreak is acknowledged to have started, there are now compounds suggested as active in vitro and molecules repurposed in clinical trials. While this has been impressive, we propose there may still be gaps in our approach to drug discovery for such outbreaks. There is an opportunity to repurpose additional approved drugs for this virus and we now suggest how these might be identified leveraging prior work on MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV and other viruses. We also describe some of the immense challenges and limitations of the open antiviral drug discovery approaches we have been involved in.

Applications of cell-penetrating peptides in regulation of gene expression

2007 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 770-774 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Järver ◽  
K. Langel ◽  
S. El-Andaloussi ◽  
Ü. Langel
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Lipid Bilayers ◽  
Regulation Of Gene Expression ◽  
Cell Penetrating Peptides ◽  
Remarkable Feature ◽  
Cell Penetrating ◽  
Plasmid Delivery ◽  
Interfering Rna

CPPs (cell-penetrating peptides) can be defined as short peptides that are able to efficiently penetrate cellular lipid bilayers. Because of this remarkable feature, they are excellent candidates regarding alterations in gene expression. CPPs have been utilized in in vivo and in vitro experiments as delivery vectors for different bioactive cargoes. This review focuses on the experiments performed in recent years where CPPs have been used as vectors for multiple effectors of gene expression such as oligonucleotides for antisense, siRNA (small interfering RNA) and decoy dsDNA (double-stranded DNA) applications, and as transfection agents for plasmid delivery.

Review on Adverse effects or side effects of Remdisivir

2021 ◽  
pp. 162-166
Author(s):  
Ganesh G. Dhakad ◽  
Rohit V. Patil ◽  
Tejas I. Chaudhari ◽  
Paresh A. Patil.
Keyword(s):  
Side Effects ◽  
Ebola Virus ◽  
Clinical Symptoms ◽  
Virus Disease ◽  
Clinical Status ◽  
World Health ◽  
In Vivo Studies ◽  
Rater Agreement

In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the spread of SARS-CoV-2 a global pandemic. To date, coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) has spread to over 200 countries, leading to over 1.6 million cases and over 99,000 deaths. Given that there is neither a vaccine nor proven treatment for COVID-19, there is currently an urgent need for effective pharmacotherapy. To address the need for an effective treatment of SARS-CoV-2 during the worldwide pandemic, this systematic review of intravenous (IV) remdesivir was performed. Remdesivir, an anti-viral prodrug originally developed to treat Ebola virus disease, has shown broad spectrum activity against the Coronavirus family. A recent case report reported improvement of clinical symptoms with remdesivir in a patient with COVID-19. After conducting a systematic search of 18 clinical trial registries and three large scientific databases, we identified 86 potentially eligible items. Following removal of duplicates (n = 21), eligible studies were reviewed independently by two authors. After the first round of screening, inter-rater agreement was 98.5% (κ = 0.925). After the second round of full-text screening, inter-rater agreement was 100%. A total of seven ongoing and recruiting clinical trials of remdesivir (100–200 milligrams, intravenous [IV]) were included. We identified the following primary outcomes: patients discharged (n = 2); time to clinical status improvement (n = 2); improved O2 saturation (n = 2); body temperature normalization (n = 2); and clinical status (n = 1). Secondary outcomes in all identified studies included documentation of adverse events. Phase 3 trials are expected to be completed between April 2020–2023. Therefore, despite supportive data from in vitro and in vivo studies, the clinical effectiveness of IV remdesivir for treatment of COVID-19 and potential side effects remain incompletely defined in the human population. But the remdesivir is also harmful for the people because of it can have some side effects such as mentioned in the following information. There are so many type of disease started form the treatment of COVID-19 with the Remdesivir that also mentioned in the following review paper.

scholarly journals Chemically Modified Human Serum Albumin Potently Blocks Entry of Ebola Pseudoviruses and Viruslike Particles

2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Haoyang Li ◽  
Fei Yu ◽  
Shuai Xia ◽  
Yufeng Yu ◽  
Qian Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Serum Albumin ◽  
Serum Albumin ◽  
Human Serum ◽  
Inhibitory Activity ◽  
Ebola Virus ◽  
Virus Disease ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Tropical Regions

ABSTRACT Ebola virus (EBOV), the causative pathogen of the deadly Ebola virus disease (EVD), can be transmitted via contact with EVD patients, including sexual contact with EVD survivors. At present, no licensed vaccine or therapeutic is available. In this study, we compared eight anhydride-modified proteins for their entry-inhibitory activity against the pseudovirus (PsV) carrying the envelope glycoprotein (GP) of the EBOV Zaire or Sudan species (Zaire PsV and Sudan PsV, respectively). We found that 3-hydroxyphthalic anhydride-modified human serum albumin (HP-HSA) was the most effective in inhibiting the entry of both Zaire PsV and Sudan PsV, with the 50% effective concentration being at the nanomolar level and with HP-HSA being more potent than EBOV-neutralizing antibody MIL77-2 (4G7, a component antibody of the ZMapp drug cocktail). The combination of HP-HSA and MIL77-2 exhibited a synergistic effect. HP-HSA had no obvious in vitro or in vivo toxicity. The EBOV PsV entry-inhibitory activity of HP-HSA remained intact after storage at 45°C for 8 weeks, suggesting that HP-HSA has the potential for worldwide use, including tropical regions in African countries, as either a therapeutic to treat EBOV infection or a prophylactic microbicide to prevent the sexual transmission of EBOV.

scholarly journals Delivery of Nucleic Acids and Nanomaterials by Cell-Penetrating Peptides: Opportunities and Challenges

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yue-Wern Huang ◽  
Han-Jung Lee ◽  
Larry M. Tolliver ◽  
Robert S. Aronstam
Keyword(s):  
Nucleic Acids ◽  
Biomedical Applications ◽  
Cell Penetrating Peptides ◽  
Biologically Active ◽  
The Past ◽  
Cell Penetrating ◽  
Cellular Entry

Many viral and nonviral systems have been developed to aid delivery of biologically active molecules into cells. Among these, cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) have received increasing attention in the past two decades for biomedical applications. In this review, we focus on opportunities and challenges associated with CPP delivery of nucleic acids and nanomaterials. We first describe the nature of versatile CPPs and their interactions with various types of cargoes. We then discussin vivoandin vitrodelivery of nucleic acids and nanomaterials by CPPs. Studies on the mechanisms of cellular entry and limitations in the methods used are detailed.

scholarly journals Cargo-dependent cytotoxicity and delivery efficacy of cell-penetrating peptides: a comparative study

2007 ◽  
Vol 407 (2) ◽  
pp. 285-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samir El-Andaloussi ◽  
Peter Järver ◽  
Henrik J. Johansson ◽  
Ülo Langel
Keyword(s):  
Membrane Integrity ◽  
Cell Penetrating Peptides ◽  
Bioactive Molecules ◽  
Cargo Delivery ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Cell Penetrating ◽  
Coupling Strategy ◽  
Transactivator Of Transcription

The use of CPPs (cell-penetrating peptides) as delivery vectors for bioactive molecules has been an emerging field since 1994 when the first CPP, penetratin, was discovered. Since then, several CPPs, including the widely used Tat (transactivator of transcription) peptide, have been developed and utilized to translocate a wide range of compounds across the plasma membrane of cells both in vivo and in vitro. Although the field has emerged as a possible future candidate for drug delivery, little attention has been given to the potential toxic side effects that these peptides might exhibit in cargo delivery. Also, no comprehensive study has been performed to evaluate the relative efficacy of single CPPs to convey different cargos. Therefore we selected three of the major CPPs, penetratin, Tat and transportan 10, and evaluated their ability to deliver commonly used cargos, including fluoresceinyl moiety, double-stranded DNA and proteins (i.e. avidin and streptavidin), and studied their effect on membrane integrity and cell viability. Our results demonstrate the unfeasibility to use the translocation efficacy of fluorescein moiety as a gauge for CPP efficiency, since the delivery properties are dependent on the cargo used. Furthermore, and no less importantly, the toxicity of CPPs depends heavily on peptide concentration, cargo molecule and coupling strategy.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document