Objectives: The study aimed to investigate the impact of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on the roles of hospital and community pharmacists in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and to assess how COVID-19 has affected their roles concerning medication dispensing and review, patient education, and telepharmacy services. Methods: This was a face-to-face questionnaire-based study. A convenient sampling technique was used to collect responses from 428 licensed community and hospital pharmacists across the UAE. The study tool is a structured questionnaire. Data were cleaned and analysed through SPSS Version 26. Results: In terms of medication dispensing practice, 314 (73.4%) and 210 (49.1%) of pharmacists reported an increase in the dispensing of over the counter (OTC) medicines and antibiotics after COVID-19, respectively. Of the pharmacists included in the study, 380 (88.8%) and 328 (76.6%) reported an elevation in the engagement in patient education and medication review after COVID-19, respectively. On the other hand, 247 (57.7%) and 179 (41.8%) of pharmacists reported that the frequency of their pharmaceutical interventions and physicians’ acceptance of those interventions increased after COVID-19, which was significantly associated (p=0.01) with pharmacists’ ability to intervene on the dosage regimen of COVID-19 patient. Conclusion: Pharmaceutical care in the UAE has evolved after COVID-19, particularly in the aspects of medications dispensing, telepharmacy, and patientcentered services.. Pharmacy Practice is a free full-text journal with a scope on the practice of pharmacy. Pharmacy Practice covers pharmaceutical care, social pharmacy, pharmacy education, process and outcome research, health promotion and education, health informatics, pharmacoepidemiology

Context: The ongoing challenges with chemotherapy demand continuous efforts to discover new drug molecules. In this scenario, a multi-target approach could be of special advantage. This might not only decrease the likelihood of drug resistance but also ensure a broader spectrum and a multifaceted, convergent attack on tumor cells. In this context, anthracene-based compounds are of key interest. Aims: To explore the activity and hybrid nature of acridine-based derivatives. Methods: In silico approach was applied, and the compounds were tested against seven different protein targets playing significant roles in cancer pathogenesis. Results: Based on the binding affinities of the compounds, it was found that, in addition to being excellent intercalating agents, the compounds displayed high inhibition for several protein targets, most importantly tyrosine kinases. Specifically, the ligands with imidazole and hydroxyethyl amino groups were found to be potent against all targets except for EGFR and ROS. The docking scores of the tested compounds were higher than those of the standard drugs in many instances. In silico ADME prediction showed that all compounds fell within the prescribed ranges, thus making them ideal candidates for oral delivery. Conclusions: The proposed compounds not only demonstrated strong anticancer activity but also exhibited their activity through multiple pathways, thereby overcoming several therapeutic challenges currently faced.

Pharmacological inhibition of the nucleoside transporter hENT1 is a promising therapeutic target across a range of diseases, including cardiovascular disorders, neurodegenerative conditions, and cancer. However, current inhibitors lack drug-like properties, necessitating the development of new inhibitors with improved pharmacological profiles. We employed a dual-pharmacophore virtual screening protocol to identify putative hENT1 inhibitors from a library of over 2 million compounds, followed by structure-based molecular docking. To validate the inhibition effect of the lead compounds, we established a functional assay using gemcitabine (GEM)-induced cytotoxicity as a readout of hENT transport activity using eight cancer cell lines. H292 was the optimal cancer cell line for the validation assay based on its high GEM sensitivity (IC50 = 28 nM) and the concentration-dependent cytotoxicity inhibition of the reference inhibitor NBTI, a hENT1 inhibitor. Of the 19 candidate compounds, two leads (compounds 2 and 3) demonstrated potency comparable to NBTI, increasing GEM IC50 values by 2.2- and 2.9-fold at 5 µM, respectively. Both compounds were non-cytotoxic to normal fibroblasts, exhibited favorable ADME properties, displayed superior docking scores of −12.63 and −12.49 kcal/mol compared to NBTI (−9.06 kcal/mol), and displayed a novel vertical binding orientation within the hENT1 binding pocket distinct from NBTI’s horizontal mode. This study established a validated non-radioactive, gemcitabine-based functional assay for hENT inhibitor discovery and identified two putative inhibitors with therapeutic potential for cancer chemosensitization, pain management, and cardio- and neuroprotection. The non-radioactive functional assay overcomes the limitations of traditional radiolabeled methods, enabling scalable, broader screening applications.

The human body harbors distinct microbial communities at each body site. One microbial niche of particular interest within the human body is the tumor microenvironment. These intratumor microbes are linked to tumor initiation, progression, and metastasis through diverse mechanisms, including activation of oncogenic pathways and modulation of antitumor immunity. Recent studies have emphasized the role of intratumor microbes in influencing the response and outcome of cancer immunotherapeutics and vaccines. Further data suggest a crucial role of microbial metabolites in the metabolic rewiring of CD8+ T cells controlling antitumor immunity. This knowledge is vital to promote our understanding of the role of microbes in the tumor microenvironment and advance translational applications. In this review, we discuss factors that shape the structure of the intratumor microbiome, such as the translocation of gut microbes and the development of local microbial communities. This study highlights the remote control of gut microbes in the tumor microenvironment, disease progression, and therapy outcome. We detail interactions of intratumor microbes and their crosstalk with tumor and immune cells, such as tissue-resident and tumor-infiltrating T cells. We discuss open research questions in this field, including defining oncomicrobiotics, the subset of microbiota with biotherapeutic potential in inducing antitumor immunity. We highlight challenges and opportunities, emphasizing the future direction of developing next-generation engineered probiotics that can advance delivery, maximize the efficacy of cancer therapy, or even serve as a non-invasive technique to sense and detect tumor cells.