Urea and Thiourea Derivatives in Modern Drug Discovery and Medicinal Chemistry

A special issue of Pharmaceuticals (ISSN 1424-8247). This special issue belongs to the section "Medicinal Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 May 2023) | Viewed by 5831

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Independent Radiopharmacy Unit, Faculty of Pharmacy, Medical University of Lublin, 20-093 Lublin, Poland
Interests: medicinal chemistry; organic synthesis; heterocycles; antinacer activity; antimicrobial activity; SAR

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Despite the continuous progress of medical science and the introduction of new drugs to the market, the effectiveness of the treatments for many diseases remains unsatisfactory. One of the major problems with drug therapy is the high variability in patients’ responses to the drug. Therefore, it is necessary to individualize treatment and to optimize the substances used in pharmacotherapy. The design, synthesis and commercialization of biologically active substances is a complex and long-term process. It requires the involvement and cooperation of scientists from various disciplines, including medicine, genetics, molecular biology, chemistry, materials science, and physics. Despite technological progress and the development of knowledge about the functioning of living organisms, the design of molecules with a specific profile of biological activity is still a challenge.

For several years, researchers have focused on urea and thiourea derivatives as pharmacophores for the search for new drugs. Chemical compounds containing urea or thiourea moieties in their structure show a broad range of biological activities thanks to certain interactions between proteins and receptor targets. Therefore, they are widely used in the search for new antimicrobial, anticancer, antituberculosis, antimalarial, antiviral or a-glucosidase inhibitor drug candidates.

In this Special Issue, we encourage you to submit articles on basic, preclinical and clinical research focusing on the design, synthesis and in vitro or in vivo biological research of new urea or thiourea compounds. Articles describing research into radiopharmaceuticals and drug delivery systems are valuable. Publications containing both original research and review articles as well as case studies are welcome.

Prof. Dr. Monika Pitucha
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • urea
  • thiourea
  • antimicrobial
  • anticancer
  • pharmacology
  • toxicology
  • radioligands
  • antioxidants
  • pharmaceutical chemistry
  • pharmaceutical analysis

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 1124 KiB  
Article
Unveiling the Potential of BenzylethyleneAryl–Urea Scaffolds for the Design of New Onco Immunomodulating Agents
by Raquel Gil-Edo, Santiago Royo, Miguel Carda and Eva Falomir
Pharmaceuticals 2023, 16(6), 808; https://doi.org/10.3390/ph16060808 - 29 May 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1454
Abstract
This work focuses on the development of thirteen benzylethylenearyl ureas and one carbamate. After the synthesis and purification of the compounds, we studied their antiproliferative action on cell lines, such as HEK-293, and cancer ones, such as HT-29, MCF-7 or A-549, on the [...] Read more.
This work focuses on the development of thirteen benzylethylenearyl ureas and one carbamate. After the synthesis and purification of the compounds, we studied their antiproliferative action on cell lines, such as HEK-293, and cancer ones, such as HT-29, MCF-7 or A-549, on the immune Jurkat T-cells and endothelial cells HMEC-1. Compounds C.1, C.3, C.12 and C.14 were selected for further biological studies to establish their potential as immunomodulating agents. Some of the derivatives exhibited significant inhibitory effects on both targets: PD-L1 and VEGFR-2 in the HT-29 cell line, showing that urea C.12 is active against both targets. Some compounds could inhibit more than 50% of cancer cell proliferation compared to non-treated ones when assessed in co-cultures using HT-29 and THP-1 cells. In addition, they significantly reduced CD11b expression, which is a promising target for immune modulation in anticancer immunotherapies. Full article
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16 pages, 3407 KiB  
Article
Comparative Studies of Palmatine with Metformin and Glimepiride on the Modulation of Insulin Dependent Signaling Pathway In Vitro, In Vivo & Ex Vivo
by Okechukwu Patrick Nwabueze, Mridula Sharma, Abbirami Balachandran, Anand Gaurav, Anis Najwa Abdul Rani, Jeleń Małgorzata, Morak-Młodawska Beata, Charlie A. Lavilla, Jr. and Merell P. Billacura
Pharmaceuticals 2022, 15(11), 1317; https://doi.org/10.3390/ph15111317 - 25 Oct 2022
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2696
Abstract
(1) Insulin resistance, a symptom of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), is caused by the inactivation of the insulin signaling pathway, which includes IRS-PI3K-IRS-1-PKC-AKT2 and GLUT4. Metformin (biguanide) and glimepiride (sulfonylurea) are both drugs that are derivatives of urea, and they are widely [...] Read more.
(1) Insulin resistance, a symptom of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), is caused by the inactivation of the insulin signaling pathway, which includes IRS-PI3K-IRS-1-PKC-AKT2 and GLUT4. Metformin (biguanide) and glimepiride (sulfonylurea) are both drugs that are derivatives of urea, and they are widely used as first-line drugs for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Palmatine has been previously reported to possess antidiabetic and antioxidant properties. (2) The current study compared palmatine to metformin and glimepiride in a type 2 diabetes model for ADME and insulin resistance via the PI3K/Akt/GLUT4 signaling pathway: in vitro, in vivo, ex vivo, and in silico molecular docking. (3) Methods: Differentiated L6 skeletal muscle cells and soleus muscle tissue were incubated in standard tissue culture media supplemented with high insulin and high glucose as a cellular model of insulin resistance, whilst streptozotocin (STZ)-induced Sprague Dawley rats were used as the diabetic model. The cells/tissue/animals were treated with palmatine, while glimepiride and metformin were used as standard drugs. The differential gene expression of PI3K, IRS-1, PKC-α, AKT2, and GLUT4 was evaluated using qPCR. (4) Results: The results revealed that the genes IRS-PI3K-IRS-1-PKC-AKT2 were significantly down-regulated, whilst PKC-α was upregulated significantly in both insulin-resistant cells and tissue animals. Interestingly, palmatine-treated cells/tissue/animals were able to reverse these effects. (5) Conclusions: Palmatine appears to have rejuvenated the impaired insulin signaling pathway through upregulation of the gene expression of IRS-1, PI3K, AKT2, and GLUT4 and downregulation of PKC-expression, according to in vitro, in vivo, and ex vivo studies. Full article
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