Discovery of a novel piperlongumine analogue as a microtubule polymerization inhibitor with potent anti-angiogenic and anti-metastatic efficacy

Highly Efficient and Long-Lasting Chemiluminescence-Functionalized Nanohydrogel for Imaging-Guided Precise Piperlongumine Chemotherapy

A major challenge for imaging-guided precise chemotherapy remains the ability to track the in situ real-time variation of the reactive oxygen species (ROS) level during treatment with prooxidation antitumor drugs. Chemiluminescence (CL) is widely used as an in vivo imaging tool with an excellent signal-to-noise ratio and high biological safety. However, suffering from flash-type and poor water solubility, most of the reported CL probes for ROS detection are unsuitable for in vivo long-term tracking. Herein, we designed a water-soluble CL nanohydrogel (L-012/Co2+@NGs) by cross-linking of vinyl-derived β-cyclodextrin monomer (MAH-β-CD) and loaded with luminol analog L-012 and cobalt ions (Co2+). In vitro studies reveal that L-012/Co2+@NGs exhibit long-lasting CL emission (up to 4 h) due to the slow diffusion of hydrogen peroxide in the nanohydrogel. High catalytic efficiency from the accelerated reduction of Co3+ to Co2+ through Tris and chelation of Co2+, as well as protection of the β-CD cavity against the active intermediate of L-012, enables L-012/Co2+@NGs to exhibit a 722-fold CL signal turn-on ratio and a nanomolar limit of detection (8.9 nmol/L). Piperlongumine (PL) was selected as a model of prooxidation drugs. The long-term and highly efficient CL strategy was designed for monitoring the local dynamic changes of ROS in PL-treated tumor-bearing mice for 150 min. The CL signal increased over time until reaching its maximum with a ∼6-fold increase at 15 min and then decreased slowly. The CL-functionalized nanohydrogel platform with good biocompatibility offers a great opportunity for imaging-guided precise tumor chemotherapy of PL and other prooxidation antitumor drugs.

Combretastatin A-4 based compounds as potential anticancer agents: A review

The current review discusses the importance of combretastatin A-4 (CA-4) as a lead compound of microtubule targeting agents. CA-4 holds a unique place among naturally occurring compounds having cytotoxic activity. In this review an overall picture of design strategies, structure-activity relationship, synthesis, cytotoxic activity, and binding interactions of promising CA-4 analogues, are discussed and arranged chronologically from 2016 to early 2023. Also, this review emphasizes their biological activity as anticancer agents, within an overview of clinical application limitation and suggested strategies to overcome. Dual targeting tubulin inhibitors showed highpotentialto surpass medication resistance and provide synergistic efficacy. Linking platinum (IV), amino acids, and HDAC targeting moieties to active tubulin inhibitorsproduced potent active compounds. Analogues of CA-4 bridged with azetidin-2-one, pyrazole, sulfide, or carrying selenium atom exhibited cytotoxic action against a variety of malignant cell lines through different pathways.

Piperlongumine and its derivatives against cancer: A recent update and future prospective

Piperlongumine, or piplartine (PL), is a bioactive alkaloid isolated from Piper longum L. and a potent phytoconstituent in Indian Ayurveda and traditional Chinese medicine with a lot of therapeutic benefits. Apart from all of its biological activities, it demonstrates multimodal anticancer activity by targeting various cancer-associated pathways and being less toxic to normal cells. According to their structure-activity relationship (SAR), the trimethylphenyl ring (cinnamoyl core) and 5,6-dihydropyridin-2-(1H)-one (piperdine core) are responsible for the potent anticancer activity. However, it has poor intrinsic properties (low aqueous solubility, poor bioavailability, etc.). As a result, pharmaceutical researchers have been trying to optimise or modify the structure of PL to improve the drug-likeness profiles. The present review selected 26 eligible research articles on PL derivatives published between 2012 and 2023, followed by the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) format. We have thoroughly summarised the anticancer potency, mode of action, SAR and drug chemistry of the proposed PL-derivatives against different cancer cells. Overall, SAR analyses with respect to anticancer potency and drug-ability revealed that substitution of methoxy to hydroxyl, attachment of ligustrazine and 4-hydroxycoumarin heterocyclic rings in place of phenyl rings, and attachment of heterocyclic rings like indole at the C7-C8 olefin position in native PL can help to improve anticancer activity, aqueous solubility, cell permeability, and bioavailability, making them potential leads. Hopefully, the large-scale collection and critical drug-chemistry analyses will be helpful to pharmaceutical and academic researchers in developing potential, less-toxic and cost-effective PL-derivatives that can be used against different cancers.

Hepatoprotective effect of dihydroxy piperlongumine in high cholesterol-induced non-alcoholic fatty liver disease zebrafish via antioxidant activity

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) are a growing epidemic and the most common liver diseases. Consumption of a western diet with high fats alters redox status, induces inflammation, and impairs the physiological function of hepatocytes. However, the pharmacological market lacks anti-NAFLD/NASH drugs. Long pepper (Piper longum L) is used in traditional Mongolian medicine for treating hyperlipidemia. Piperlongumine (PL) is a bioactive compound of Piper longum L, which usually possesses anticancer activities due to its ROS elevation property. However, when PL was demethylated they behave as an antioxidant. Previously, we found dihydroxy piperlongumine (DHPL) possesses high antioxidant activity among the hydroxy piperlongumines, which makes us curious to reveal the anti-NAFLD effect. A high-cholesterol diet (HCD) was chosen to induce NAFLD zebrafish model, and the antioxidant and lipid-lowering effects of DHPL were evaluated. Histological alterations of NAFLD were also scored along with gene expression to explore the molecular mechanism. DHPL reduced lipid accumulation in both short-term and long-term feeding trials. DHPL increases antioxidant activity and lipid-lowering gene expression and decreases hepatic triglyceride, oxidative stress, and lipogenic genes. In conclusion, DHPL halted the progression of HCD-induced NAFLD in the zebrafish model.