In recent years, several publications reported that nanoparticles larger than the kidney filtration threshold were found intact in the urine after being injected into laboratory mice. This theoretically should not be possible, as it is widely known that the kidneys prevent molecules larger than 6–8 nm from escaping into the urine. This is interesting because it implies that some nanoparticles can overcome the size limit for renal clearance. What kinds of nanoparticles can “bypass” the glomerular filtration barrier and cross into the urine? What physical and chemical characteristics are essential for nanoparticles to have this ability? And what are the biomolecular and cellular mechanisms that are involved? This review attempts to answer those questions and summarize known reports of renal-clearable large nanoparticles.

The discovery and development of anticancer still remain a challenge especially regarding the problem of cancer cell selectivity. Matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) was broadly studied as one of the protein targets to stop cancer angiogenesis as well as its cell migration. The MMP degrades extracellular matrix (ECM) such as collagen and gelatin which are important to control the cell migration from one to other sites. In cancer, this cell migration is regarded with metastasis, which is essential for the formation of new blood vessels called angiogenesis. The most common target in MMP, i.e. the catalytic site, is currently reported as being the non-selective target for inhibitor compounds that inhibit all MMPs but is associated with adverse side effects. Hemopexin, especially in MMP9 (PEX9) was found to be different from other domains in the MMP family which could potentially be the next target for anticancer due to the availability of its crystal structure in the Protein Data Bank (PDB). The PEX9 crystal structure was resolved as a homodimer connected by a hydrophobic area between two blades along the β-propeller which its structure and function for computational drug modelling can be studied.

The H1N1 pandemic in 2009 and the H5N1 outbreak in 2005 have shocked the world as millions of people were infected and hundreds of thousands died due to the infections by the influenza virus. Oseltamivir, the most common drug to block the viral life cycle by inhibiting neuraminidase (NA) enzyme, has been less effective in some resistant cases due to the virus mutation. Presently, the binding of 10 chalcone derivatives towards H5N1 and H1N1 NAs in the non-catalytic and catalytic sites was studied using molecular docking. The in silico study was also conducted for its drug-like likeness such as Lipinski Rule, mutagenicity, toxicity and pharmacokinetic profiles. The result demonstrates that two chalcones (1c and 2b) have the potential for future NA inhibitor development. Compound 1c inhibits H5N1 NA and H1N1 NA with IC₅₀ of 27.63 µM and 28.11 µM, respectively, whereas compound 2b inhibits NAs with IC₅₀ of 87.54 µM and 73.17 µM for H5N1 and H1N1, respectively. The in silico drug-like likeness prediction reveals that 1c is 62% better than 2b (58%) in meeting the criteria. The results suggested that 1c and 2b have potencies to be developed as non-competitive inhibitors of neuraminidase for the future development of anti-influenza drugs.