From Nucleic Acids to Drug Discovery: Nucleobases as Emerging Templates for Drug Candidates

Shaping the future of antiviral Treatment: Spotlight on Nucleobase-Containing drugs and their revolutionary impact

Nucleobases serve as essential molecular frameworks present in both natural and synthetic compounds that exhibit notable antiviral activity. Through molecular modifications, novel nucleobase-containing drugs (NCDs) have been developed, exhibiting enhanced antiviral activity against a wide range of viruses, including the recently emerged SARS‑CoV‑2. This article provides a detailed examination of the significant advancements in NCDs from 2015 till current, encompassing various aspects concerning their mechanisms of action, pharmacology and antiviral properties. Additionally, the article discusses antiviral prodrugs relevant to the scope of this review. It fills in the knowledge gap by examining the structure-activity relationship and trend of NCDs as therapeutics against a diverse range of viral diseases, either as approved drugs, clinical candidates or as early-stage development prospects. Moreover, the article highlights on the status of this field of study and addresses the prevailing limitations encountered.

Recent progress of aptamer‒drug conjugates in cancer therapy

Aptamers are single-stranded DNA or RNA sequences that can specifically bind with the target protein or molecule via specific secondary structures. Compared to antibody-drug conjugates (ADC), aptamer‒drug conjugate (ApDC) is also an efficient, targeted drug for cancer therapy with a smaller size, higher chemical stability, lower immunogenicity, faster tissue penetration, and facile engineering. Despite all these advantages, several key factors have delayed the clinical translation of ApDC, such as in vivo off-target effects and potential safety issues. In this review, we highlight the most recent progress in the development of ApDC and discuss solutions to the problems noted above.

Pd-Catalyzed Ring-Opening/Arylation/Cyclization of 2-Aminothiazole Derivatives Provides Modular Access to Isocytosine Analogues

We report a Pd-catalyzed ring-opening/arylation/cyclization reaction sequence between 2-aminothiazoles and aryl (pseudo)halides that provides modular access to isocytosine analogues. The scope of the reaction is broad with respect to both coupling partners and a robustness test demonstrated the functional group tolerance of the methodology. Visual kinetic analysis revealed that the product may inhibit catalyst turnover for some substrates.