Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE 2) is a membrane-bound enzyme that cleaves angiotensin II (Ang II) into angiotensin (1–7). It also serves as an important binding site for SARS-CoV-2, thereby, facilitating viral entry into target host cells. ACE 2 is abundantly present in the intestine, kidney, heart, lungs, and fetal tissues. Fetal ACE 2 is involved in myocardium growth, lungs and brain development. ACE 2 is highly expressed in pregnant women to compensate preeclampsia by modulating angiotensin (1–7) which binds to the Mas receptor, having vasodilator action and maintain fluid homeostasis. There are reports available on Zika, H1N1 and SARS-CoV where these viruses have shown to produce fetal defects but very little is known about SARS-CoV-2 involvement in pregnancy, but it might have the potential to interact with fetal ACE 2 and enhance COVID-19 transmission to the fetus, leading to fetal morbidity and mortality. This review sheds light on a path of SARS-CoV-2 transmission risk in pregnancy and its possible link with fetal ACE 2.
α-lipoic acid-stearylamine conjugate-based SLNs have a great potential in enhancing the oral bioavailability of poorly soluble drugs like TMX. Moreover, this ALA-SA nanoparticulate system could be of significant value in long-term anticancer therapy with least side effects.
Abstract::
Human Acyl-CoA cholesterol acyltransferase (ACAT) plays an important role in catalysis of reaction which converts cholesterol into cholesteryl esters and long-chain fatty acyl coenzyme A. The inhibition of ACAT has therapeutically potential roles in hypercholestrolemia, atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease. For better understanding of essential chemical features for ACAT inhibition and identifying novel inhibitors, a three-dimensional (3D) chemical-feature-based quantitative QSAR pharmacophore model for available ACAT inhibitors have been developed for first time using Discovery Studio 2.5. The best model (Hypo1) having lowest total cost (84.14), highest cost difference (69.67), highest correlation coefficient (0.94), and lowest RMS (1.15Å), constitutes of one hydrogen bond acceptor, one hydrogen bond donor, two hydrophobic aromatic and one hydrophobic aliphatic feature. Validation of Hypo1 was further done using test set activity prediction, Fischer’s randomization method and decoy data set to check the reliability of the model. The validated Hypo1 was then used as a 3D search query for virtual screening to retrieve potential inhibitors from National cancer institute (NCI), ChemDiv and Specs databases. Finally, ADMET properties of selected compounds were calculated. The result shows the good potential of the newly found ACAT inhibitors. Finally, the two compounds have been obtained as novel hits to design the Novel ACAT inhibitors.
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