Special Issue "Boron in Medicinal Chemistry: From Synthesis to Therapeutic Applications"

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 April 2024 | Viewed by 948

Special Issue Editors

Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Piemonte Orientale, 28100 Novara, Italy
Interests: carbohydrates; boronic acids; benzoxaboroles; boron clusters; BNCT
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Piemonte Orientale, 28100 Novara, Italy
Interests: carbohydrates; boronic acids; benzoxaboroles; boron clusters; BNCT

Special Issue Information

Dear colleagues,

In recent years, the interest in boron-based compounds for medical applications has grown significantly, bearing the development of new drugs, e.g., Velcade® (bortezomib), which is used in the treatment of multiple myeloma. This Special Issue is dedicated to all aspects of boron-based compounds with potential pharmaceutical interest, including clusters of boron (carboranes, metallaboranes, metallacarboranes, aminoboranes, etc.), organic and bio-organic boron conjugates (boronic acids and their complexes as well as derivatives, benzoxaboroles), and boron in materials (including polymers and dendrimers), that can have an impact on the medical field, with anticancer, bactericidal, antifungal, and anti-HIV activity, anti-rheumatoid arthritis activity, applications of boron in drug delivery and imaging for diagnosis, or compounds focused on boron neutron capture therapy.

It is a pleasure to invite you to submit a manuscript to this Special Issue; regular articles, communications, and reviews are all welcome.

Dr. Daniela Imperio
Prof. Dr. Luigi Panza
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Pharmaceuticals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • boronic acids
  • benzoxaboroles
  • boron clusters
  • carboranes
  • boron neutron capture therapy
  • boron-based drugs
  • drug design
  • boron delivery agents
  • medical applications
 
 
 
 
 
 

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

12 pages, 1162 KiB  
Article
Carborane-Based ABCG2-Inhibitors Sensitize ABC-(Over)Expressing Cancer Cell Lines for Doxorubicin and Cisplatin
Pharmaceuticals 2023, 16(11), 1582; https://doi.org/10.3390/ph16111582 - 09 Nov 2023
Viewed by 582
Abstract
The ABCG2 transporter protein, as part of several known mechanisms involved in multidrug resistance, has the ability to transport a broad spectrum of substrates out of the cell and is, therefore, considered as a potential target to improve cancer therapies or as an [...] Read more.
The ABCG2 transporter protein, as part of several known mechanisms involved in multidrug resistance, has the ability to transport a broad spectrum of substrates out of the cell and is, therefore, considered as a potential target to improve cancer therapies or as an approach to combat drug resistance in cancer. We have previously reported carborane-functionalized quinazoline derivatives as potent inhibitors of human ABCG2 which effectively reversed breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP)-mediated mitoxantrone resistance. In this work, we present the evaluation of our most promising carboranyl BCRP inhibitors regarding their toxicity towards ABCG2-expressing cancer cell lines (MCF-7, doxorubicin-resistant MCF-7 or MCF-7 Doxo, HT29, and SW480) and, consequently, with the co-administration of an inhibitor and therapeutic agent, their ability to increase the efficacy of therapeutics with the successful inhibition of ABCG2. The results obtained revealed synergistic effects of several inhibitors in combination with doxorubicin or cisplatin. Compounds DMQCa, DMQCc, and DMQCd showed a decrease in IC50 value in ABCB1- and ABCG2-expressing SW480 cells, suggesting a possible targeting of both transporters. In an HT29 cell line, with the highest expression of ABCG2 among the tested cell lines, using co-treatment of doxorubicin and DMQCd, the effective inhibitory concentration of the antineoplastic agent could be reduced by half. Interestingly, co-treatment of compound QCe with cisplatin, which is not an ABCG2 substrate, showed synergistic effects in MCF-7 Doxo and HT29 cells (IC50 values halved or reduced by 20%, respectively). However, a literature-known upregulation of cisplatin-effluxing ABC transporters and their effective inhibition by the carborane derivatives emerges as a possible reason. Full article
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Planned Papers

The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.

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