Department of Pharmacy

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://localhost:4000/handle/123456789/1931

Browse

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 25
  • Item
    Novel hydrazine derivatives as selective DPP-IV inhibitors: findings from virtual screening and validation through molecular dynamics simulations
    (Springer, 2014-04) Kumar, Gautam
    The present study demonstrates and validates the discovery of two novel hydrazine derivatives as selective dipeptidyl peptidase-IV (DPP-IV) inhibitors. Virtual screening (VS) of publicly available databases was performed using virtual screening workflow (VSW) of Schrödinger software against DPP-IV and the most promising hits were selected. Selectivity was further assessed by docking the hits against homology modeled structures of DPP8 and DPP9. Two novel hydrazine derivatives were selected for further studies based on their selectivity threshold. To assess their correct binding modes and stability of their complexes with enzyme, molecular dynamic (MD) simulation studies were performed against the DPP-IV protein and the results revealed that they had a better binding affinity towards DPP-IV as compared to DPP 8 and DPP 9. The binding poses were further validated by docking these ligands with different softwares (Glide and Gold). The proposed binding modes of hydrazines were found to be similar to sitagliptine and alogliptine. Thus, the study reveals the potential of hydrazine derivatives as highly selective DPP-IV inhibitors.
  • Item
    Pyrazole-pyrazoline as promising novel antimalarial agents: a mechanistic study
    (Elsevier, 2018-04) Kumar, Gautam
    A series of pyrazole-pyrazoline substituted with benzenesulfonamide were synthesized and evaluated for their antimalarial activity in vitro and in vivo. The compounds were active against both chloroquine (CQ) sensitive (3D7) and CQ resistant (RKL-9) strains of Plasmodium falciparum. Seven compounds (7e, 7i, 7j, 7l, 7m, 7o and 7p) exhibiting EC50 less than 2 μM. A mechanistic study of compound 7o revealed that these compound act through the inhibition of β-hematin. The study indicated that these compounds can serve as lead compounds for further development of potent antimalarial drugs.
  • Item
    Synthesis of carbohydrazides and carboxamides as anti-tubercular agents
    (Elsevier, 2018-08) Kumar, Gautam
    A novel series of furan/thiophene carbohydrazides and carboxamides were synthesized and evaluated for anti-TB and cytotoxic activities. All the synthesized compounds were characterized using 1H and 13C NMR and mass spectral techniques. Among the 23 compounds tested for anti-tubercular activity, seven compounds (3e, 3g, 3h, 9b, 9c, 9e and 9h) showed minimum inhibitory concentration value less than 1 μg/mL against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv and they were found to be non-toxic. Molecular docking and dynamics simulation studies of these compounds with an enzyme enoyl ACP reductase revealed the probable mechanism of action, which is similar to isoniazid. Further, all these tested compounds exhibited good absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion and drug-likeness in-silico and thus may be considered as potential leads for further drug development.
  • Item
    Synthesis and biological evaluation of dihydroquinoline carboxamide derivatives as anti-tubercular agents
    (Elsevier, 2018-09) Kumar, Gautam
    Sodium trifluoromethanesulfonate, and glacial acetic acid selectively catalyzed the synthesis of dihydroquinoline via Friedländer annulation. The synthesized dihydroquinoline analogues coupled with different amines by the use of coupling reagent gave dihydroquinoline carboxamide derivatives in moderate to good yields. All the synthesized novel compounds were evaluated for the anti-tubercular activity and cytotoxic activities in vitro. Among tested 30 compounds, two compounds, 8g and 8h showed MIC value of 0.39 and 0.78 μg/mL, respectively against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv and they were found to be non-toxic. Also these two compounds exhibited good pharmacological properties and oral absorption when studied using in-silico models.
  • Item
    Pyrazole–coumarin and pyrazole–quinoline chalcones as potential antitubercular agents
    (Wiley, 2020-06) Kumar, Gautam
    Pyrazole, coumarin, and quinoline are medicinally important moieties. In this study, two series of novel pyrazole–coumarin chalcones and pyrazole–quinoline chalcones were synthesized using multiple-step reactions. All the synthesized compounds were well characterized using different spectroscopic techniques including 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance, high-resolution mass spectroscopy, and electrospray ionization–mass spectrometry. The compounds were evaluated for their antitubercular activity against the Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv strain using the microplate Alamar Blue assay, and the minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of the compounds were determined. Among the 32 tested compounds, compounds 3e, 3u, and 7h showed an MIC value of 3.125 µg/ml, and they were found to be nontoxic. Molecular docking studies of the compounds with the enzyme DprE1 revealed the probable mechanism of action. The chalcone derivatives exhibited binding affinity values between −7.047 and −9.353 kcal/mol. ADME parameters were predicted using the QikProp module of the Schrödinger software, and these compounds exhibited good pharmacological and oral absorption properties.
  • Item
    Synthesis, biological evaluation and computational studies of acrylohydrazide derivatives as potential Staphylococcus aureus NorA efflux pump inhibitors
    (Elsevier, 2020-11) Kumar, Gautam
    The NorA efflux pump decreases the intracellular concentration of fluoroquinolones (ciprofloxacin, norfloxacin) by effluxing them from Staphylococcus aureus cells. The synthesis of novel acrylohydrazide derivatives was achieved using well-known reactions and were characterized by various spectroscopy techniques. The synthesized 50 compounds were evaluated for the NorA efflux pump inhibition activity against S. aureus SA-1199B (norA++) and K1758 (norA-) strains. The study provided two most active compounds viz. 19 and 52. Compound 19 was found to be most active in potentiating effect of norfloxacin and also it showed enhanced uptake, efflux inhibition in ethidium bromide assay. Further compound 19 also enhanced post antibiotic effect and reduced mutation prevention concentration of norfloxacin. The homology modeling study was performed to elucidate three-dimensional structure of NorA. Docking studies of potent molecules were done to find the binding affinity and interaction with active site residues. Further, all the tested compounds exhibited good ADME and drug-likeness properties in- silico. Based on the in-silico studies and detailed in vitro studies, acrylohydrazides derivatives may be considered as potential NorA EPI candidates.
  • Item
    Chemical tools for illumination of tuberculosis biology, virulence mechanisms, and diagnosis
    (ACS, 2020-12) Kumar, Gautam
    Tuberculosis (TB) remains one of the deadliest infectious diseases and begs the scientific community to up the ante for research and exploration of completely novel therapeutic avenues. Chemical biology-inspired design of tunable chemical tools has aided in clinical diagnosis, facilitated discovery of therapeutics, and begun to enable investigation of virulence mechanisms at the host–pathogen interface of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. This Perspective highlights chemical tools specific to mycobacterial proteins and the cell lipid envelope that have furnished rapid and selective diagnostic strategies and provided unprecedented insights into the function of the mycobacterial proteome and lipidome. We discuss chemical tools that have enabled elucidating otherwise intractable biological processes by leveraging the unique lipid and metabolite repertoire of mycobacterial species. Some of these probes represent exciting starting points with the potential to illuminate poorly understood aspects of mycobacterial pathogenesis, particularly the host membrane–pathogen interactions.
  • Item
    Cancer multidrug-resistance reversal by abcb1 inhibition: a recent update
    (Elsevier, 2022-09) Kumar, Gautam
    Chemotherapy is one of the most common treatments for cancer that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs as a part of the standardized chemotherapy regimen. Cytotoxic chemicals delay and prevent cancer cells from multiplying, invading, and metastasizing. However, the significant drawbacks of cancer chemotherapy are the lack of selectivity of the cytotoxic drugs to tumour cells and normal cells and the development of resistance by cells for the particular drug or the combination of drugs. Multidrug resistance (MDR) is the low sensitivity of specific cells against drugs associated with cancer chemotherapy. The most common mechanisms of anticancer drug resistance are: (a) drug-dependent MDR (b) target-dependent MDR, and (c) drug target-independent MDR. In all the factors, the overexpression of multidrug efflux systems contributes significantly to the increased resistance in the cancer cells. Multidrug resistance due to efflux of anticancer drugs by membrane ABC transporters includes ABCB1, ABCC1, and ABCG2. ABCB1 inhibition can restore the sensitivity of the cancerous cells toward chemotherapeutic drugs. In this review, we discussed ABCB1 inhibitors under clinical studies with their mode of action, potency and selectivity. Also, we have highlighted the contribution of repurposing drugs, biologics and nano formulation strategies to combat multidrug resistance by modulating the ABCB1 activity.
  • Item
    Targeting mycobacterial membranes and membrane proteins: Progress and limitations
    (Elsevier, 2023-03) Kumar, Gautam
    Among the various bacterial infections, tuberculosis continues to hold center stage. Its causative agent, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, possesses robust defense mechanisms against most front-line antibiotic drugs and host responses due to their complex cell membranes with unique lipid molecules. It is now well-established that bacteria change their membrane composition to optimize their environment to survive and elude drug action. Thus targeting membrane or membrane components is a promising avenue for exploiting the chemical space focussed on developing novel membrane-centric anti-bacterial small molecules. These approaches are more effective, non-toxic, and can attenuate resistance phenotype. We present the relevance of targeting the mycobacterial membrane as a practical therapeutic approach. The review highlights the direct and indirect targeting of membrane structure and function. Direct membrane targeting agents cause perturbation in the membrane potential and can cause leakage of the cytoplasmic contents. In contrast, indirect membrane targeting agents disrupt the function of membrane-associated proteins involved in cell wall biosynthesis or energy production. We discuss the chronological chemical improvements in various scaffolds targeting specific membrane-associated protein targets, their clinical evaluation, and up-to-date account of their ''mechanisms of action, potency, selectivity'' and limitations. The sources of anti-TB drugs/inhibitors discussed in this work have emerged from target-based identification, cell-based phenotypic screening, drug repurposing, and natural products. We believe this review will inspire the exploration of uncharted chemical space for informing the development of new scaffolds that can inhibit novel mycobacterial membrane targets.
  • Item
    Natural products acting against S. aureus through membrane and cell wall disruption
    (RSC, 2023-06) Kumar, Gautam
    Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is responsible for several community and hospital-acquired infections with life-threatening complications such as bacteraemia, endocarditis, meningitis, liver abscess, and spinal cord epidural abscess. In recent decades, the abuse and misuse of antibiotics in humans, animals, plants, and fungi and the treatment of nonmicrobial diseases have led to the rapid emergence of multidrug-resistant pathogens. The bacterial wall is a complex structure consisting of the cell membrane, peptidoglycan cell wall, and various associated polymers. The enzymes involved in bacterial cell wall synthesis are established antibiotic targets and continue to be a central focus for antibiotic development. Natural products play a vital role in drug discovery and development. Importantly, natural products provide a starting point for active/lead compounds that sometimes need modification based on structural and biological properties to meet the drug criteria. Notably, microorganisms and plant metabolites have contributed as antibiotics for noninfectious diseases. In this study, we have summarized the recent advances in understanding the activity of the drugs or agents of natural origin that directly inhibit the bacterial membrane, membrane components, and membrane biosynthetic enzymes by targeting membrane-embedded proteins. We also discussed the unique aspects of the active mechanisms of established antibiotics or new agents.