In the fields of medicine, biotechnology and pharmacology, drug discovery is the process by which new candidate medications are discovered.
Nelfinavir, sold under the brand name Viracept, is an antiretroviral medication used in the treatment of HIV/AIDS. Nelfinavir belongs to the class of drugs known as protease inhibitors (PIs) and like other PIs is almost always used in combination with other antiretroviral drugs.
The lignans are a large group of low molecular weight polyphenols found in plants, particularly seeds, whole grains, and vegetables. The name derives from the Latin word for "wood". Lignans are precursors to phytoestrogens. They may play a role as antifeedants in the defense of seeds and plants against herbivores.
Umifenovir, sold under the brand name Arbidol, is an antiviral medication for the treatment of influenza and COVID infections used in Russia and China. The drug is manufactured by Pharmstandard. It is not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment or prevention of influenza.
HIV/AIDS in China can be traced to an initial outbreak of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) first recognized in 1989 among injecting drug users along China's southern border. Figures from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, World Health Organization, and UNAIDS estimate that there were 1.25 million people living with HIV/AIDS in China at the end of 2018, with 135,000 new infections from 2017. The reported incidence of HIV/AIDS in China is relatively low, but the Chinese government anticipates that the number of individuals infected annually will continue to increase.
Boromycin is a bacteriocidal polyether-macrolide antibiotic. It was initially isolated from the Streptomyces antibioticus, and is notable for being the first natural product found to contain the element boron. It is effective against most Gram-positive bacteria, but is ineffective against Gram-negative bacteria. Boromycin kills bacteria by negatively affecting the cytoplasmic membrane, resulting in the loss of potassium ions from the cell.
A depsipeptide is a peptide in which one or more of its amide, -C(O)NHR-, groups are replaced by the corresponding ester, -C(O)OR-. Many depsipeptides have both peptide and ester linkages. Elimination of the N–H group in a peptide structure results in a decrease of H-bonding capability, which is responsible for secondary structure and folding patterns of peptides, thus inducing structural deformation of the helix and β-sheet structures. Because of decreased resonance delocalization in esters relative to amides, depsipeptides have lower rotational barriers for cis-trans isomerization and therefore they have more flexible structures than their native analogs. They are mainly found in marine and microbial natural products.
Honokiol is a lignan isolated from the bark, seed cones, and leaves of trees belonging to the genus Magnolia. It has been identified as one of the chemical compounds in some traditional eastern herbal medicines along with magnolol, 4-O-methylhonokiol, and obovatol.
Cucurbitacins are a class of biochemical compounds that some plants – notably members of the pumpkin and gourd family, Cucurbitaceae – produce and which function as a defense against herbivores. Cucurbitacins and their derivatives have also been found in many other plant families, in some mushrooms and even in some marine mollusks.
Enterolactone is a organic compound classified as an enterolignan. It is formed by the action of intestinal bacteria on plant lignan precursors present in the diet.
Kadsura longipedunculata, also known as the Chinese Kadsura Vine, is a fruit bearing monoecious wild evergreen climbing shrub, that is native to Eastern Asia, Western China and Southern China.This rare and unknown flower is often used for its medicinal properties in Asia.
Cucurbitane is a class of tetracyclic chemical compounds with formula C
30H
54. It is a polycyclic hydrocarbon, specifically triterpene. It is also an isomer of lanostane, from which it differs by the formal shift of a methyl group from the 10 to the 9β position in the standard steroid numbering scheme.
Michellamines are a group of atropisomeric alkaloid which have been found to be HIV viral replication inhibitors in vitro. It was discovered in the leaves of Ancistrocladus korupensis. There are three michellamines represented as A, B, and C; however, michellamine B is the most active against the NID-DZ strain of HIV-2.
Coumarinolignoids are a class of phenolic compounds. They are a subset of lignans in which one of the two phenylpropanoids is found in the form of a coumarin.
Steganacin is an dibenzocyclooctadiene lactone, an unusual type of lignan. It exhibits some antileukemic properties in vitro. It has been isolated from Steganotaenia araliacea. (−)-Steganacin is the natural form.
Fungal isolates have been researched for decades. Because fungi often exist in thin mycelial monolayers, with no protective shell, immune system, and limited mobility, they have developed the ability to synthesize a variety of unusual compounds for survival. Researchers have discovered fungal isolates with anticancer, antimicrobial, immunomodulatory, and other bio-active properties. The first statins, β-Lactam antibiotics, as well as a few important antifungals, were discovered in fungi.
Scytovirin is a 95-amino acid antiviral protein isolated from the cyanobacteria Scytonema varium. It has been cultured in E. coli and its structure investigated in detail. Scytovirin is thought to be produced by the bacteria to protect itself from viruses that might otherwise attack it, but as it has broad-spectrum antiviral activity against a range of enveloped viruses, scytovirin has also been found to be useful against a range of major human pathogens, most notably HIV / AIDS but also including SARS coronavirus and filoviruses such as Ebola virus and Marburg virus. While some lectins such as cyanovirin and Urtica dioica agglutinin are thought likely to be too allergenic to be used internally in humans, studies so far on scytovirin and griffithsin have not shown a similar level of immunogenicity. Scytovirin and griffithsin are currently being investigated as potential microbicides for topical use.
Azvudine is an antiviral drug which acts as a reverse transcriptase inhibitor. It was discovered for the treatment of Hepatitis C and has since been investigated for use against other viral diseases such as AIDS and COVID-19, for which it was granted conditional approval in China.
Hinokinin is a dibenzylbutyrolactone lignan, derived from various species of plants. It is a potential antichagonistic agent and has shown to possess neuroprotective effects as well. It is also found to have anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, antiviral and antifungal properties.
In the management of HIV/AIDS, HIV capsid inhibitors are antiretroviral medicines that target the capsid shell of the virus. Most current antiretroviral drugs used to treat HIV do not directly target the viral capsid. These have also been termed "Capsid-targeting Antivirals", "Capsid Effectors", and "Capsid Assembly Modulators (CAMs)". Because of this, drugs that specifically inhibit the HIV capsid are being developed in order to reduce the replication of HIV, and treat infections that have become resistant to current antiretroviral therapies.
