Advanced Computational Methodologies Used in the Discovery of New Natural Anticancer Compounds

Natural chemical compounds have been widely investigated for their programmed necrosis causing characteristics. One of the conventional methods for screening such compounds is the use of concentrated plant extracts without isolation of active moieties for understanding pharmacological activity. For the last two decades, modern medicine has relied mainly on the isolation and purification of one or two complicated active and isomeric compounds. The idea of multi-target drugs has advanced rapidly and impressively from an innovative model when first proposed in the early 2000s to one of the popular trends for drug development in 2021. Alternatively, fragment-based drug discovery is also explored in identifying target-based drug discovery for potent natural anticancer agents which is based on well-defined fragments opposite to use of naturally occurring mixtures. This review summarizes the current key advancements in natural anticancer compounds; computer-assisted/fragment-based structural elucidation and a multi-target approach for the exploration of natural compounds

Therapeutic Approaches to Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis from the Lab to the Clinic

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a terminal neuro-degenerative disorder that is clinically recognized as a gradual degeneration of the upper and lower motor neurons, with an average duration of 3 to 5 years from initial of symptoms to death. The mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis and progression of the disease are multifactorial. Therefore, to find effective treatments, it is necessary to understand the heterogeneity underlying the progression of ALS. Recent developments in gene therapy have opened a new avenue to treat this condition, especially for the characterized genetic types. Gene therapy methods have been studied in various pre-clinical settings and clinical trials, and they may be a promising path for developing an effective and safe ALS cure. A growing body of evidence demonstrates abnormalities in metabolic energy at the cellular and whole-body level in animal models and people living with ALS. Using and incorporatig high-throughput "omics" methods have radically transformed our thoughts about ALS, strengthened our understanding of the disease's dynamic molecular architecture, differentiated distinct patient subtypes, and created a reasonable basis for identifying biomarkers and novel individualised treatments. Future clinical and laboratory trials would also focus on the diverse relationships between metabolism and ALS to address the issue of whether targeting poor metabolism in ALS is an effective way to change disease progression. In this review, we focus on the detailed pathogenesis of ALS and highlight principal genes, i.e., SOD1, TDP-43, C9orf72, and FUS, as well as targeted ALS therapies. An attempt is made to provide up-to-date clinical outcomes, including various biomarkers that are thought to be important players in early ALS detection