Pyroptosis is a type of programmed cell death characterized by cell swelling and osmotic lysis, resulting in cytomembrane rupture and release of immunostimulatory components, which play a role in seve Show more
Pyroptosis is a type of programmed cell death characterized by cell swelling and osmotic lysis, resulting in cytomembrane rupture and release of immunostimulatory components, which play a role in several pathological processes. Significant cellular responses to various stimuli involve the formation of inflammasomes, maturation of inflammatory caspases, and caspase-mediated cleavage of gasdermin. The function of pyroptosis in disease is complex but not a simple angelic or demonic role. While inflammatory diseases such as sepsis are associated with uncontrollable pyroptosis, the potent immune response induced by pyroptosis can be exploited as a therapeutic target for anti-tumor therapy. Thus, a comprehensive review of the role of pyroptosis in disease is crucial for further research and clinical translation from bench to bedside. In this review, we summarize the recent advancements in understanding the role of pyroptosis in disease, covering the related development history, molecular mechanisms including canonical, non-canonical, caspase 3/8, and granzyme-mediated pathways, and its regulatory function in health and multiple diseases. Moreover, this review also provides updates on promising therapeutic strategies by applying novel small molecule inhibitors and traditional medicines to regulate pyroptosis. The present dilemmas and future directions in the landscape of pyroptosis are also discussed from a clinical perspective, providing clues for scientists to develop novel drugs targeting pyroptosis. Show less
Pretrained using over 33 million single-cell RNA-sequencing profiles, scGPT is a foundation model facilitating a broad spectrum of downstream single-cell analysis tasks by transfer learning.
The elucidation of a compound's Mechanism of Action (MoA) is a challenging task in the drug discovery process, but it is important in order to rationalise phenotypic findings and to anticipate potenti Show more
The elucidation of a compound's Mechanism of Action (MoA) is a challenging task in the drug discovery process, but it is important in order to rationalise phenotypic findings and to anticipate potential side-effects. Bioinformatic approaches, advances in machine learning techniques and the increasing deposition of high-throughput data in public databases have significantly contributed to recent advances in the field, but it is not straightforward to decide which data and methods are most suitable to use in a given case. In this review, we focus on these methods and data and their applications in generating MoA hypotheses for subsequent experimental validation. We discuss compound-specific data such as -omics, cell morphology and bioactivity data, as well as commonly used supplementary prior knowledge such as network and pathway data, and provide information on databases where this data can be accessed. In terms of methodologies, we discuss both well-established methods (connectivity mapping, pathway enrichment) as well as more developing methods (neural networks and multi-omics integration). Finally, we review case studies where the MoA of a compound was successfully suggested from computational analysis by incorporating multiple data modalities and/or methodologies. Our aim for this review is to provide researchers with insights into the benefits and drawbacks of both the data and methods in terms of level of understanding, biases and interpretation – and to highlight future avenues of investigation which we foresee will improve the field of MoA elucidation, including greater public access to -omics data and methodologies which are capable of data integration. Show less
The Ru(III) metronidazole-maltolato and -ethylmaltolato complexes, trans-[RuL(2)(metro)(2)]CF(3)SO(3) (L=ma (1a) or etma (1b)), have been synthesized and tested for potential anti-tumour activity agai Show more
The Ru(III) metronidazole-maltolato and -ethylmaltolato complexes, trans-[RuL(2)(metro)(2)]CF(3)SO(3) (L=ma (1a) or etma (1b)), have been synthesized and tested for potential anti-tumour activity against the human breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-435S using a so-called MTT assay in phosphate-buffered saline; ma=3-hydroxy-2-methylpyran-4-onato, etma=2-ethyl-3-hydroxypyran-4-onato, metro=2-methyl-5-nitro-1H-imidazole-1-ethanol (metronidazole); MTT=3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide. The complexes exhibit lower IC(50) values than our previously reported Ru(III) tris-maltolato and -ethylmaltolato complexes [D.C. Kennedy, A. Wu, B.O. Patrick, B.R. James, Inorg. Chem. 44 (2005) 6529-6535]. An improved synthetic route to the 2-nitroimidazole EF5 (2-(2-nitro-1-H-imidazol-1-yl)-N-(2,2,3,3,3-pentafluoropropyl)acetamide) is reported, as well as a related synthesis of a 3-nitro-1,2,4-triazole derivative of EF5, triF5 (2-(3-nitro-1-H-triazol-1-yl)-N-(2,2,3,3,3- pentafluoropropyl)acetamide). The complexes [RuL(2)(EF5)(2)]CF(3)SO(3) (4a and 4b) and [Ru(ma)(2)(triF5)(2)]CF(3)SO(3) (5) were prepared from the [RuL(2)(EtOH)(2)]CF(3)SO(3) complexes (3a and 3b); IC(50) values for 3-5 are high. Data on the uptake of Ru by the cells are also reported. The complexes were characterized generally by all or some of the following methods: elemental analyses, NMR, IR and mass spectroscopies, conductivity, and cyclic voltammetry; complexes 1a and 1b were also analyzed by X-ray crystallography. Show less
Ru(II) sulfoxide-maltolato complexes, Ru(ma)(2)(L)(2) (L = DMSO (1a) and TMSO (1b) or L(2) = BESE (1c)), were synthesized, as well as the analogous ethylmaltolato derivatives, Ru(etma)(2)(L)(2) (2a-c) Show more
Ru(II) sulfoxide-maltolato complexes, Ru(ma)(2)(L)(2) (L = DMSO (1a) and TMSO (1b) or L(2) = BESE (1c)), were synthesized, as well as the analogous ethylmaltolato derivatives, Ru(etma)(2)(L)(2) (2a-c) (ma = 3-hydroxy-2-methylpyran-4-onate, etma = 2-ethyl-3-hydroxypyran-4-onate, TMSO = tetramethylene sulfoxide, BESE = 1,2-bis(ethylsulfinyl)ethane). A Ru(II) bidentate sulfoxide-metronidazole complex, RuCl(2)(BESE)(metro)(2) (3), was also synthesized (metro = metronidazole = 2-methyl-5-nitroimidazole-1-ethanol). The complexes were characterized generally by (1)H NMR, UV-vis, and IR spectroscopies, as well as MS, elemental analysis, solution conductivity, and cyclic voltammetry. The molecular structures of Ru(ma)(2)(S,R-BESE) (1c) and trans-RuCl(2)(R,R-BESE)(metro)(2) (3) were determined by X-ray crystallography. All sulfoxide ligands are S-bonded. The complexes were tested against human breast cancer cells (MDA-MB-435S) using an in vitro MTT assay, a colorimetric determination of cell viability: 2a,b exhibit the lowest IC(50) values of 190 +/- 10 and 220 +/- 10 microM, respectively. Cisplatin exhibits an IC(50) value of 30 +/- 5 microM. Show less