1.Dock-able linear and homodetic di,tri,tetra and pentapeptide library from canonical amino acids:SARS-CoV-2 Mpro as a case study
Ahmad SARFRAZ ; Mirza USMAN-MUHAMMAD ; F.trant JOHN
Journal of Pharmaceutical Analysis 2023;13(5):523-534
Peptide-based therapeutics are increasingly pushing to the forefront of biomedicine with their promise of high specificity and low toxicity.Although noncanonical residues can always be used,employing only the natural 20 residues restricts the chemical space to a finite dimension allowing for comprehensive in silico screening.Towards this goal,the dataset comprising all possible di-,tri-,and tetra-peptide com-binations of the canonical residues has been previously reported.However,with increasing computa-tional power,the comprehensive set of pentapeptides is now also feasible for screening as the comprehensive set of cyclic peptides comprising four or five residues.Here,we provide both the com-plete and prefiltered libraries of all di-,tri-,tetra-,and penta-peptide sequences from 20 canonical amino acids and their homodetic(N-to-C-terminal)cyclic homologues.The FASTA,simplified molecular-input line-entry system(SMILES),and structure-data file(SDF)-three dimension(3D)libraries can be readily used for screening against protein targets.We also provide a simple method and tool for conducting identity-based filtering.Access to this dataset will accelerate small peptide screening workflows and encourage their use in drug discovery campaigns.As a case study,the developed library was screened against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2)main protease to identify po-tential small peptide inhibitors.
2.Platinum complexes of curcumin delivered by dual-responsive polymeric nanoparticles improve chemotherapeutic efficacy based on the enhanced anti-metastasis activity and reduce side effects.
Yan CHEN ; Chen CHEN ; Xiaojuan ZHANG ; Chuanchuan HE ; Pengxuan ZHAO ; Minsi LI ; Ting FAN ; Ruicong YAN ; Yao LU ; Robert J LEE ; Muhammad Waseem KHAN ; Muhammad SARFRAZ ; Xiang MA ; Tan YANG ; Guangya XIANG
Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B 2020;10(6):1106-1121
Platinum-based chemotherapy is used for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, it has side effects and minimum efficacy against lung cancer metastasis. In this study, platinum-curcumin complexes were loaded into pH and redox dual-responsive nanoparticles (denoted as Pt-CUR@PSPPN) to facilitate intracellular release and synergistic anti-cancer effects. Pt-CUR@PSPPN was prepared by a nano-precipitation method and had a diameter of ∼100 nm. The nanoparticles showed increased anti-cancer effects both and . In addition, Pt-CUR@PSPPN blocked PI3K/AKT signal transduction pathway and inhibited MMP2 and VEGFR2, resulting in enhanced anti-metastatic activity. Furthermore, reduced side effects were also observed. In conclusion, Pt-CUR@PSPPN provided a novel and attractive therapeutic strategy for NSCLC.