Although the assortment of antifungal drugs is broad, the most commonly used agents have major drawbacks. Toxicity, serious side effects or the emergence of drug resistance are amongst them. New drugs and drug candidates under clinical trials do not guarantee better pharmacological parameters. These new medicines may appear effective; however; they may cause serious side effects. This current review is focused on the recent findings in the design of quinoline based antifungal agents. This field seems to be especially interesting as 8-hydroxyquinoline and its metal complexes have been well known as antifungals for years. Structural similarities between quinoline based antifungals and allylamines or homoallylamines, e.g. terbinafine is another interesting fact. Quinoline can be identified in a number of synthetic and natural antifungals, which indicates natures preference for this fragment and identifying it as one of the so-called privileged structures. We have discussed new trends in the design of quinolines with antifungal properties, their possible targets and the structure activity relationships within the antifungal series developed.

Thiosemicarbazones (TSCs) are an interesting class of ligands that show a diverse range of biological activity, including anti-fungal, anti-viral and anti-cancer effects. Our previous studies have demonstrated the potent in vivo anti-tumor activity of novel TSCs and their ability to overcome resistance to clinically used chemotherapeutics. In the current study, 35 novel TSCs of 6 different classes were designed using a combination of retro-fragments that appear in other TSCs. Additionally, di-substitution at the terminal N4 atom, which was previously identified to be critical for potent anti-cancer activity, was preserved through the incorporation of an N4-based piperazine or morpholine ring. The anti-proliferative activity of the novel TSCs were examined in a variety of cancer and normal cell-types. In particular, compounds 1d and 3c demonstrated the greatest promise as anti-cancer agents with potent and selective anti-proliferative activity. Structure-activity relationship studies revealed that the chelators that utilized “soft” donor atoms, such as nitrogen and sulfur, resulted in potent anti-cancer activity. Indeed, the N,N,S donor atom set was crucial for the formation of redox active iron complexes that were able to mediate the oxidation of ascorbate. This further highlights the important role of reactive oxygen species generation in mediating potent anti-cancer activity. Significantly, this study identified the potent and selective anti-cancer activity of 1d and 3c that warrants further examination.

The role of oxidative stress in activity of anticancer thiosemicarbazones The role of oxidative stress in activity of anticancer thiosemicarbazones

Microneedles are a novel drug delivery system that offers advantages such as safety, painlessness, minimally invasive administration, simplicity of use, and controllable drug delivery. As a type of polymer microneedle with a three-dimensional network structure, hydrogel microneedles (HMNs) possess excellent biocompatibility and biodegradability and encapsulate various therapeutic drugs while maintaining drug activity, thus attracting significant attention. Recently, they have been widely employed to promote wound healing and have demonstrated favorable therapeutic effects. Although there are reviews about HMNs, few of them focus on wound management. Herein, we present a comprehensive overview of the design and preparation methods of HMNs, with a particular emphasis on their application status in wound healing, including acute wound healing, infected wound healing, diabetic wound healing, and scarless wound healing. Finally, we examine the advantages and limitations of HMNs in wound management and provide suggestions for future research directions.