Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive, complex, multifactorial, neurodegenerative disease and accounts for most cases of dementia. The currently approved therapy includes cholinesterase inhibitors, NMDA-receptor antagonists and monoclonal antibodies. However, these medications were gradually discovered to be ineffective in removing the root of AD pathogenesis, having only symptomatic effects. Thus, the priority remains prevention and clarifying AD etiology. A better understanding of the neuroprotective mechanisms undertaken by specific genes is crucial to guide the design of novel therapeutic agents via selective ligands and precision medicine. In this review, we present a perspective of the physiological phase of the AD spectrum, of risk factors in AD with a focus on therapeutic approaches in three categories: neurotransmitters/ion modulations, peptide deposit control and aspecific treatments, followed by a discussion of treatment limitations. An overview of innovative strategies and non-pharmaceutical ancillary support is given.

Sirtuins are NAD⁺-dependent deac(et)ylases with different subcellular localization. The sirtuins’ family is composed of seven members, named SIRT-1 to SIRT-7. Their substrates include histones and also an increasing number of different proteins. Sirtuins regulate a wide range of different processes, ranging from transcription to metabolism to genome stability. Thus, their dysregulation has been related to the pathogenesis of different diseases. In this review, we discussed the pharmacological approaches based on sirtuins’ modulators (both inhibitors and activators) that have been attempted in in vitro and/or in in vivo experimental settings, to highlight the therapeutic potential of targeting one/more specific sirtuin isoform(s) in cancer, neurodegenerative disorders and type 2 diabetes. Extensive research has already been performed to identify SIRT-1 and -2 modulators, while compounds targeting the other sirtuins have been less studied so far. Beside sections dedicated to each sirtuin, in the present review we also included sections dedicated to pan-sirtuins’ and to parasitic sirtuins’ modulators. A special focus is dedicated to the sirtuins’ modulators identified by the use of virtual screening.

Sirtuins (SIRTs) are classified as class III histone deacetylases (HDACs), a family of enzymes that catalyze the removal of acetyl groups from the ε-N-acetyl lysine residues of histone proteins, thus counteracting the activity performed by histone acetyltransferares (HATs). Based on their involvement in different biological pathways, ranging from transcription to metabolism and genome stability, SIRT dysregulation was investigated in many diseases, such as cancer, neurodegenerative disorders, diabetes, and cardiovascular and autoimmune diseases. The elucidation of a consistent number of SIRT–ligand complexes helped to steer the identification of novel and more selective modulators. Due to the high diversity and quantity of the structural data thus far available, we reviewed some of the different ligands and structure-based methods that have recently been used to identify new promising SIRT1/2 modulators. The present review is structured into two sections: the first includes a comprehensive perspective of the successful computational approaches related to the discovery of SIRT1/2 inhibitors (SIRTIs); the second section deals with the most interesting SIRTIs that have recently appeared in the literature (from 2017). The data reported here are collected from different databases (SciFinder, Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar, and PubMed) using “SIRT”, “sirtuin”, and “sirtuin inhibitors” as keywords.

Recently, the development of sirtuin small molecule inhibitors (SIRTIs) has been gaining attention for the treatment of different cancer types, but also to contrast neurodegenerative disease, diabetes, and autoimmune syndromes. In the search for SIRT2 modulators, the availability of several X-crystallographic data regarding SIRT2−ligand complexes has allowed for setting up a structure-based study, which is herein presented. A set of 116 SIRT2 inhibitors featuring different chemical structures has been collected from the literature and used for molecular docking studies involving 4RMG and 5MAT PDB codes. The information found highlights key contacts with the SIRT2 binding pocket such as Van der Waals and π–π stacking with Tyr104, Phe119, Phe234, and Phe235 in order to achieve high inhibitory ability values. Following the preliminary virtual screening studies, a small in-house library of compounds (1a–7a), previously investigated as putative HSP70 inhibitors, was described to guide the search for dual-acting HSP70/SIRT2 inhibitors. Biological and enzymatic assays validated the whole procedure. Compounds 2a and 7a were found to be the most promising derivatives herein proposed.

Sirtuin isoform 2 (SIRT2) is one of the seven sirtuin isoforms present in humans, being classified as class III histone deacetylases (HDACs). Based on the high sequence similarity among SIRTs, the identification of isoform selective modulators represents a challenging task, especially for the high conservation observed in the catalytic site. Efforts in rationalizing selectivity based on key residues belonging to the SIRT2 enzyme were accompanied in 2015 by the publication of the first X-ray crystallographic structure of the potent and selective SIRT2 inhibitor SirReal2. The subsequent studies led to different experimental data regarding this protein in complex with further different chemo-types as SIRT2 inhibitors. Herein, we reported preliminary Structure-Based Virtual Screening (SBVS) studies using a commercially available library of compounds to identify novel scaffolds for the design of new SIRT2 inhibitors. Biochemical assays involving five selected compounds allowed us to highlight the most effective chemical features supporting the observed SIRT2 inhibitory ability. This information guided the following in silico evaluation and in vitro testing of further compounds from in-house libraries of pyrazolo-pyrimidine derivatives towards novel SIRT2 inhibitors (1–5). The final results indicated the effectiveness of this scaffold for the design of promising and selective SIRT2 inhibitors, featuring the highest inhibition among the tested compounds, and validating the applied strategy.

The search for novel effective TAAR1 ligands continues to draw great attention due to the wide range of pharmacological applications related to TAAR1 targeting. Herein, molecular docking studies of known TAAR1 ligands, characterized by an oxazoline core, have been performed in order to identify novel promising chemo-types for the discovery of more active TAAR1 agonists. In particular, the oxazoline-based compound S18616 has been taken as a reference compound for the computational study, leading to the development of quite flat and conformationally locked ligands. The choice of a “Y-shape” conformation was suggested for the design of TAAR1 ligands, interacting with the protein cavity delimited by ASP103 and aromatic residues such as PHE186, PHE195, PHE268, and PHE267. The obtained results allowed us to preliminary in silico screen an in-house series of pyrimidinone-benzimidazoles (1a–10a) as a novel scaffold to target TAAR1. Combined ligand-based (LBCM) and structure based (SBCM) computational methods suggested the biological evaluation of compounds 1a–10a, leading to the identification of derivatives 1a–3a (hTAAR1 EC₅₀ = 526.3–657.4 nM) as promising novel TAAR1 agonists.