The therapeutic properties of plants have been recognised since time immemorial. Many pathological conditions have been treated using plant-derived medicines. These medicines are used as concoctions or concentrated plant extracts without isolation of active compounds. Modern medicine however, requires the isolation and purification of one or two active compounds. There are however a lot of global health challenges with diseases such as cancer, degenerative diseases, HIV/AIDS and diabetes, of which modern medicine is struggling to provide cures. Many times the isolation of “active compound” has made the compound ineffective. Drug discovery is a multidimensional problem requiring several parameters of both natural and synthetic compounds such as safety, pharmacokinetics and efficacy to be evaluated during drug candidate selection. The advent of latest technologies that enhance drug design hypotheses such as Artificial Intelligence, the use of ‘organ-on chip’ and microfluidics technologies, means that automation has become part of drug discovery. This has resulted in increased speed in drug discovery and evaluation of the safety, pharmacokinetics and efficacy of candidate compounds whilst allowing novel ways of drug design and synthesis based on natural compounds. Recent advances in analytical and computational techniques have opened new avenues to process complex natural products and to use their structures to derive new and innovative drugs. Indeed, we are in the era of computational molecular design, as applied to natural products. Predictive computational softwares have contributed to the discovery of molecular targets of natural products and their derivatives. In future the use of quantum computing, computational softwares and databases in modelling molecular interactions and predicting features and parameters needed for drug development, such as pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamics, will result in few false positive leads in drug development. This review discusses plant-based natural product drug discovery and how innovative technologies play a role in next-generation drug discovery.

The current levels of breast cancer in African women have contributed to the high mortality rates among them. In South Africa, the incidence of breast cancer is also on the rise due to changes in behavioural and biological risk factors. Such low survival rates can be attributed to the late diagnosis of the disease due to a lack of access and the high costs of the current diagnostic tools. Breast cancer is asymptomatic at early stages, which is the best time to detect it and intervene to prevent high mortality rates. Proper risk assessment, campaigns, and access to adequate healthcare need to be prioritised among patients at an early stage. Early detection of breast cancer can significantly improve the survival rate of breast cancer patients, since therapeutic strategies are more effective at this stage. Early detection of breast cancer can be achieved by developing devices that are simple, sensitive, low-cost, and employed at point-of-care (POC), especially in low-income countries (LICs). Nucleic-acid-based lateral flow assays (NABLFAs) that combine molecular detection with the immunochemical visualisation principles, have recently emerged as tools for disease diagnosis, even for low biomarker concentrations. Detection of circulating genetic biomarkers in non-invasively collected biological fluids with NABLFAs presents an appealing and suitable method for POC testing in resource-limited regions and/or LICs. Diagnosis of breast cancer at an early stage will improve the survival rates of the patients. This review covers the analysis of the current state of NABLFA technologies used in developing countries to reduce the scourge of breast cancer.

The current study reports on the development of a rapid and cost-effective TB-antigen diagnostic test for the detection of Mycobacterium biomarkers from non-sputum-based samples. Two gold nanoparticle (AuNP)-based rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) in the form of lateral flow immunoassays (LFIAs) were developed for detection of immunodominant TB antigens, the 6 kDa early secreted antigen target EsxA (ESAT-6) and the 10 kDa culture filtrate protein EsxB (CFP-10). AuNPs were synthesized using the Turkevich method and characterized by UV-vis spectrophotometer and transmission electron microscope (TEM). The AuNP–detection probe conjugation conditions were determined by comparing the stability of 14 nm AuNPs at different pH conditions, following salt challenge. Thereafter, ESAT-6 and CFP-10 antibodies were conjugated to the AuNPs and used for the colorimetric detection of TB antigens. Selection of the best detection and capture antibody pairs was determined by Dot spotting. The limits of detection (LODs) for the LFIAs were evaluated by dry testing. TEM results showed that the 14 nm AuNPs were mostly spherical and well dispersed. The ESAT-6 LFIA prototype had an LOD of 0.0625 ng/mL versus the CFP-10 with an LOD of 7.69 ng/mL. Compared to other studies in the literature, the LOD was either similar or lower, outperforming them. Moreover, in some of the previous studies, an enrichment/extraction step was required to improve on the LOD. In this study, the LFIAs produced results within 15 min and could be suitable for use at PoCs either in clinics, mobile clinics, hospitals or at home by the end user. However, further studies need to be conducted to validate their use in clinical samples.

HIV-1 protease (PR) is an obligate homodimer which plays a pivotal role in the maturation and hence propagation of HIV. Although successful developments on PR active site inhibitors have been achieved, the major limiting factor has been the emergence of HIV drug-resistant strains. Disruption of the dimer interface serves as an alternative mechanism to inactivate the enzyme. The terminal residue, F99, was mutated to an alanine to investigate its contribution to dimer stability in the South African HIV-1 subtype C (C-SA) PR. The F99A PR and wild-type C-SA PR were overexpressed and purified. The activities of the PRs and their ability to bind an active site inhibitor, acetyl-pepstatin, were determined in vitro. The F99A PR showed no activity and the inability to bind to the inhibitor. Secondary and quaternary structure analysis were performed and revealed that the F99A PR is monomeric with reduced β-sheet content. The mutation of F99 to alanine disrupted the presumed 'lock-and-key' motif at the terminal dimer interface, in turn creating a cavity at the N- and C-terminal antiparallel β-sheet. These findings support the design of inhibitors targeting the C-terminus of the C-SA PR, centered on interactions with the bulky F99.

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