Emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus‐2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) infection, COVID‐19, has become the global panic since December 2019, which urges the global healthcare professionals to identify novel therapeutics to counteract this pandemic. So far, there is no approved treatment available to control this public health issue; however, a few antiviral agents and repurposed drugs support the patients under medical supervision by compromising their adverse effects, especially in emergency conditions. Only a few vaccines have been approved to date. In this context, several plant natural products‐based research studies are evidenced to play a crucial role in immunomodulation that can prevent the chances of infection as well as combat the cytokine release storm (CRS) generated during COVID‐19 infection. In this present review, we have focused on flavonoids, especially epicatechin, epigallocatechin gallate, hesperidin, naringenin, quercetin, rutin, luteolin, baicalin, diosmin, ge nistein, biochanin A, and silymarin, which can counteract the virus‐mediated elevated levels of inflammatory cytokines leading to multiple organ failure. In addition, a comprehensive discussion on available in silico, in vitro, and in vivo findings with critical analysis has also been evaluated, which might pave the way for further development of phytotherapeutics to identify the potential lead candidatetoward effective and safe management of the SARS‐CoV‐2 disease.
In the present study, a novel series of 3-pyrimidinylazaindoles were designed and synthesized using a bioinformatics strategy as cyclin-dependent kinases CDK2 and CDK9 inhibitors, which play critical roles in the cell cycle control and regulation of cell transcription. The present approach gives new dimensions to the existing SAR and opens a new opportunity for the lead optimizations from comparatively inexpensive starting materials. The study led to the identification of the alternative lead candidate 4ab with a nanomolar potency against CDK2 and CDK9 and potent antiproliferative activities against a panel of tested tumor cell lines along with a better safety ratio of ∼33 in comparison to reported leads. In addition, the identified lead 4ab demonstrated a good solubility and an acceptable in vivo PK profile. The identified lead 4ab showed an in vivo efficacy in mouse triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) syngeneic models with a TGI (tumor growth inhibition) of 90% without any mortality growth inhibition in comparison to reported leads.
Rottlerin is a key bioactive phytoconstituent present in the pericarp of Mallotus philippensis. It shows promising multifaceted pharmacological actions against cancer. However, there is hardly any report for the quantification of rottlerin in the biological matrix and on its pharmacokinetic behavior. Therefore, we aimed in the present study to assess selective in vitro ADME properties and in vivo pharmacokinetics of isolated and characterized rottlerin using a newly developed and validated liquid chromatography−tandem mass spectrometry-based highly sensitive bioanalytical method. The method was found to be simple (mobile phase and analytical column), sensitive (1.9 ng/ mL), and rapid (run time of 2.5 min). All the validation parameters were within the acceptable criteria of the United States Food and Drug Administration's bioanalytical method validation guideline. The method was found to be very useful to assess lipophilicity, plasma stability, metabolic stability, plasma protein binding of rottlerin, as well as its oral and intravenous pharmacokinetics in mice. Rottlerin showed a number of drug-like pharmacokinetic properties (in vitro). Moreover, it displayed an excellent half-life (>2 h) and oral bioavailability (>35%) as compared to other members of natural phenolics. The present study is the first-time report of in vitro ADME properties and in vivo preclinical pharmacokinetics of rottlerin. The generated information is very much useful for its further development as a phytotherapeutics toward cancer therapy.
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