• 동의생리병리학회지
• /
• 제19권6호
• /
• pp.1666-1672
• /
• 2005

Oriental medicinal drugs have a broad spectrum of clinical use for the cure of nervous system diseases including brain ischemic damages or neuropathies. Yet, specific drugs or drug components used in the oriental medicine in relation to none fiber regeneration are not known. In the present study, possible growth promoting effects of oriental medicinal drugs were investigated in the injured sciatic nerve system in the rat. By immunofluorescence staining, we found that Jahageo (JHG, Hominis placenta) increased Induction levels of axonal growth associated protein GAP-43 in the rat sciatic none. Small growth promoting activity was found in Golsebo (GSB, Drynariae rhizoma) and Baikhasuo (BHSO, Polygoni multiflori radix) drugs. JHG also increased cell cycle protein Cdc2 levels in the injured area of the sciatic nerves. Immunofluorescence staining indicated that induced Cdc2 protein was mostly localized in the Schwann cells in the injury area, implying that JHG activity might be related to increased Schwann cell proliferation during axonal regeneration. Moreover, levels of phospho-extracellular signal-regulated (ERK) pathway in the injured neNes were elevated by JHG treatment while levels of total ERK were unaltered. In vivo measurement of axonal regeneration using retrograde tracer showed that JHG, GSB and BHSO significantly enhanced Dil-labeled regenerating motor neurons compared with saline control. The present data suggest that oriental medicinal drugs such as JHG, GSB, and BHSO may be a useful target for developing specific drugs of axonal regeneration.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
• /
• 제31권3호
• /
• pp.241-252
• /
• 2023

The era of innovative RNA therapies using antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs), siRNAs, and mRNAs is beginning. Since the emergence of the concept of ASOs in 1978, it took more than 20 years before they were developed into drugs for commercial use. Nine ASO drugs have been approved to date. However, they target only rare genetic diseases, and the number of chemistries and mechanisms of action of ASOs are limited. Nevertheless, ASOs are accepted as a powerful modality for next-generation medicines as they can theoretically target all disease-related RNAs, including (undruggable) protein-coding RNAs and non-coding RNAs. In addition, ASOs can not only downregulate but also upregulate gene expression through diverse mechanisms of action. This review summarizes the achievements in medicinal chemistry that enabled the translation of the ASO concept into real drugs, the molecular mechanisms of action of ASOs, the structure-activity relationship of ASO-protein binding, and the pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, and toxicology of ASOs. In addition, it discusses recent advances in medicinal chemistry in improving the therapeutic potential of ASOs by reducing their toxicity and enhancing their cellular uptake.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
• /
• 제1권1호
• /
• pp.93-97
• /
• 1993

We have previously reported that an NADPH-dependent succinic semialdehyde reductase was purified homogeneously from bovine brain by several chromatographic procedures, and was found to be a monomeric protein with a molecular mass of 28 kDa (Cho et al., Eur. J. Biochem. 1993). Since succinic semialdehyde is an important intermediate in the ${\gamma}$-aminobutyrate(GABA) shunt and GABA level is associated with various forms of human neurological disorders, we have investigated the effects of anticonvulsant drugs on the succinic semialdehrde reductase. Among the drugs tested, sodium valproate and diphenylhydantoin inhibited the enzyme activity, while some other drugs, barbiturate and chlorpromazine, had no inhibitory effects on the enzyme activity. The purified enzyme was also injected as an immunogen into Balb/c mice to obtain monoclonal antibodies (mob) and several mobs to the protein were produced from the fusion experiments.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
• /
• 제23권4호
• /
• pp.231-236
• /
• 2019

In drug discovery or preclinical stages of development, potency parameters such as $IC_{50}$, $K_i$, or $K_d$ in vitro have been routinely used to predict the parameters of efficacious exposure (AUC, $C_{min}$, etc.) in humans. However, to our knowledge, the fundamental assumption that the potency in vitro is correlated with the efficacious concentration in vivo in humans has not been investigated extensively. Thus, the present review examined this assumption by comparing a wide range of published pharmacokinetic (PK) and potency data. If the drug potency in vitro and its in vivo effectiveness in humans are well correlated, the steady-state average unbound concentrations in humans [$C_{u_-ss.avg}=f_u{\cdot}F{\cdot}Dose/(CL{\cdot}{\tau})=f_u{\cdot}AUCss/{\tau}$] after treatment with approved dosage regimens should be higher than, or at least comparable to, the potency parameters assessed in vitro. We reviewed the ratios of $C_{u_-ss.avg}$/potency in vitro for a total of 54 drug entities (13 major therapeutic classes) using the dosage, PK, and in vitro potency reported in the published literature. For 54 drugs, the $C_{u_-ss.avg}$/in vitro potency ratios were < 1 for 38 (69%) and < 0.1 for 22 (34%) drugs. When the ratios were plotted against $f_u$ (unbound fraction), "ratio < 1" was predominant for drugs with high protein binding (90% of drugs with $f_u{\leq}5%$; i.e., 28 of 31 drugs). Thus, predicting the in vivo efficacious unbound concentrations in humans using only in vitro potency data and $f_u$ should be avoided, especially for molecules with high protein binding.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
• /
• 제24권2호
• /
• pp.150-158
• /
• 2001

The activity of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in rheumatoid arthritis is not only due to the inhibition of the production of prostaglandins, which can even have beneficial immunosuppressive effects in chronic inflammatory processes. Since we speculated that these drugs could also act by protecting endogenous proteins against denaturation, we evaluated their effect on heat-induced denaturation human serum albumin (HSA) in comparison with several fatty acids which are known to be potent stabilizers of this protein. By the Mizushimas assay and a recently developed HPLC assays we observed that NSAIDs were slightly less active [$EC_{50}~10^{-5}-10^{-4}$ M] than FA and that the HPLC method was less sensitive but more selective than the turbidimetric assay, i.e. it was capable of distinguishing true antiaggregant agents like FA and NSAIDs from substances capable of inhibiting the precipitation of denatured protein aggregates. In conclusion, this survey could be useful for the development of more effective agents in protein condensation diseases like rheumatic disorders, cataract and Alzheimers disease.

• 생명과학회지
• /
• 제8권4호
• /
• pp.400-409
• /
• 1998

Formation of adduct was studied in benzo(a)pyrene(BP)- and doxorubicin(Dx)-treated human NC-37 cells and isolated nuclei. Major adducts formed were determined by fluorescence absorption spectrophotometery and DNA-lin-ked protein assay. When isolated nuclei were exposed to carcinogens BP and DMBA, and anticancer drugs m-AMSA, ellipticine and Dx, varying degrees of adduct formation occured between DNA-protein complex and these drugs. When the mixture was centrifuged 1.7 M sucrose solution, binding BP and DMBA appeared to be similar between the sediment and the supernatant. When the sediment was centrifuged again with 0.35% polymin-P, the amount of BP bound was 2-fold greater in the protein(1077$\pm$55cpm) than in DNA fraction (470$\pm$20cpm), whereas that of DMBA was 1.6-fold greater in the DNA than in protein fraction. In the case of m-AMSA, ellipticine and Dx, the amount of binding was slightly greater in supernatant than in sediment in centrifugation with 1.7 M sucrose, and more than 3 times greater in the DNA- than in protein- fraction in centrifugation with 0.35% polymin P. DNA fractions which associated with a subset of nonhistone chromosomal protein were isolated from NC-37 cells exposed to $^{3}$H-BP and $^{14}$C-Dx. They were separated into two distince components DNA-S and DNA-P by centrifugation with 2M Nacl chromatin extraction. The results indicated that the amount of $^{3}$H-BP bound was 6.0-fold greater in DNA-P as compared with DNA-S, while that of $^{14}$C-Dx binding appreaed to be 6.2-fold greater in DNA-S than in DNA-P fraction. When $^{3}$H-BP binding wasdetermined in the presence of cold Dx, the amount of binding was reduced only in the DNA-P fraction, indicating that the interaction between DNA and protein is decreased. Gene expression by these drugs, BP treated cells were increased to compare with nomal cells but reduced by treatment with BP-Dx. These results suggest that the protein moiety which tightly bound to DNA-P fraction may play an important role in the regulation of gene expression.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• 제28권10호
• /
• pp.1716-1722
• /
• 2018

Immunosuppressive drugs are used to make the body less likely to reject transplanted organs or to treat autoimmune diseases. In this study, five immunosuppressive drugs including two glucocorticoids (dexamethasone and prednisolone), one calcineurin inhibitor (cyclosporin A), one non-steroid anti-inflammatory drug (aspirin), and one antimetabolite (methotrexate) were tested for their effects on viral proliferation using feline foamy virus (FFV). The five drugs had different cytotoxic effects on the Crandell-Ress feline kidney (CRFK) cells, the natural host cell of FFV. Dexamethasone-pretreated CRFK cells were susceptible to FFV infection, but pretreatment with prednisolone, cyclosporin A, aspirin, and methotrexate showed obvious inhibitory effects on FFV proliferation, by reducing viral production to 29.8-83.8% of that of an untreated control. These results were supported by western blot, which detected viral Gag structural protein in the infected cell lysate. As our results showed a correlation between immunosuppressive drugs and susceptibility to viral infections, it is proposed that immune-compromised individuals who are using immune-suppressive drugs may be especially vulnerable to viral infection originated from pets.

• Genomics & Informatics
• /
• 제18권4호
• /
• pp.43.1-43.13
• /
• 2020

The coronavirus disease 2019 is a contagious disease and had caused havoc throughout the world by creating widespread mortality and morbidity. The unavailability of vaccines and proper antiviral drugs encourages the researchers to identify potential antiviral drugs to be used against the virus. The presence of RNA binding domain in the nucleocapsid (N) protein of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) could be a potential drug target, which serves multiple critical functions during the viral life cycle, especially the viral replication. Since vaccine development might take some time, the identification of a drug compound targeting viral replication might offer a solution for treatment. The study analyzed the phylogenetic relationship of N protein sequence divergence with other 49 coronavirus species and also identified the conserved regions according to protein families through conserved domain search. Good structural binding affinities of a few natural and/or synthetic phytocompounds or drugs against N protein were determined using the molecular docking approaches. The analyzed compounds presented the higher numbers of hydrogen bonds of selected chemicals supporting the drug-ability of these compounds. Among them, the established antiviral drug glycyrrhizic acid and the phytochemical theaflavin can be considered as possible drug compounds against target N protein of SARS-CoV-2 as they showed lower binding affinities. The findings of this study might lead to the development of a drug for the SARS-CoV-2 mediated disease and offer solution to treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

• Genomics & Informatics
• /
• 제14권3호
• /
• pp.104-111
• /
• 2016

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a mosquito borne pathogen, belongs to Flaviviridae family having a positive-sense single-stranded RNA genome, currently known for causing large epidemics in Brazil. Its infection can cause microcephaly, a serious birth defect during pregnancy. The recent outbreak of ZIKV in February 2016 in Brazil realized it as a major health risk, demands an enhanced surveillance and a need to develop novel drugs against ZIKV. Amodiaquine, prochlorperazine, quinacrine, and berberine are few promising drugs approved by Food and Drug Administration against dengue virus which also belong to Flaviviridae family. In this study, we performed molecular docking analysis of these drugs against nonstructural 3 (NS3) protein of ZIKV. The protease activity of NS3 is necessary for viral replication and its prohibition could be considered as a strategy for treatment of ZIKV infection. Amongst these four drugs, berberine has shown highest binding affinity of -5.8 kcal/mol and it is binding around the active site region of the receptor. Based on the properties of berberine, more similar compounds were retrieved from ZINC database and a structure-based virtual screening was carried out by AutoDock Vina in PyRx 0.8. Best 10 novel drug-like compounds were identified and amongst them ZINC53047591 (2-(benzylsulfanyl)-3-cyclohexyl-3H-spiro[benzo[h]quinazoline-5,1'-cyclopentan]-4(6H)-one) was found to interact with NS3 protein with binding energy of -7.1 kcal/mol and formed H-bonds with Ser135 and Asn152 amino acid residues. Observations made in this study may extend an assuring platform for developing anti-viral competitive inhibitors against ZIKV infection.

• 한국응용약물학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 한국응용약물학회 1993년도 제2회 신약개발 연구발표회 초록집
• /
• pp.53-53
• /
• 1993

In considering the mechanism of action of the calcium antagonists, it is important to realize that there are three distinct receptor types and that the new classification divides these three drugs as members of the dihydropyridine, phenylalkylamines and benzothiazipines, respectively. The World Health Organization as well as the International Union of Pharmacology and Cardiology have adopted this classification. Unlike every other class of drugs, such as the alpha and beta adrenergic blocking agents, diuretics, etc., the calcium antagonists need to be thought of as three distinct drug classes. The reason they share some, but not all of the pharmacological profile is that they all act at specific receptor domains present in one large protein of 165 daltons present in all excitable tissue. This protein along with several other subunits make up what is known as the voltage-dependent calcium channel (the so-called "L"type, L-VDCC). The mechanism of action of the three drugs involve first a specfic binding and then an inhibition of the movement of calcium into the cell Some of these drugs, such as diltiazem, may have other interesting intracellular effects perhaps associated with protection of the mitochondria during ischemic insults. The nature of the receptor is being explored by molecular genetic techniques, and we have recently cloned two of the major subunits; some of the data will be presented.