Recent Advances in Anti-Infective Drug Discovery - Volume 18, Issue 2, 2023

Vaccines are usually regarded as one of the most important tools in the battle against infectious diseases. Even though currently accessible vaccinations are an incredible success story in contemporary medicine and have had a significant impact on global morbidity and death rates, it is evident that current vaccine delivery approaches need to be improved. To allow the successful creation of vaccinations against contagious diseases that have proven challenging to manage with conventional procedures, improvements are necessary. Improvements could include the introduction of innovative injectable adjuvants or novel delivery methods, such as mucosal immunization. Protection against infections that infect mucosal areas may necessitate mucosal delivery. Alternatively, innovative techniques for delivery, such as intradermal administration using self-administrable devices or the use of microneedle technology to bypass the stratum corneum's skin penetration barrier and aid in the transport of antigens, could be utilized to increase vaccine compliance. Needle-free delivery systems are of particular relevance for safer mass immunization programs, as they would prevent problems caused by needles reuse in several regions of the world, as well as needle-stick accidents. Based on this information, future vaccine development will mainly concentrate on rational antigen, adjuvant, and, most importantly, delivery mechanism design, resulting in new and improved vaccinations. In addition, this study discusses the current state and prospects of vaccine delivery via a variety of channels, including non- or minimally invasive approaches.

Ever since the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic struck, the challenges posed to the scientific community by its causative agent, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) have been countless, and still continue to emerge. Even though a host of repurposed and new therapeutic agents as well as vaccines have been, and are being assessed at a breakneck speed, this contagion continues to create havoc, returning back in waves, with appearance of newer viral variants which are associated with numerous challenges, which include greater transmissibility, increased virulence, immune escape, etc. In this study, we discuss the current status of various therapeutic agents which are being used, or in the various stages of preclinical/clinical trials for managing COVID-19.

Natural therapeutic microorganisms provide a potent alternative healthcare treatment nowadays, with the potential to prevent several human diseases. These health-boosting living organisms, probiotics mostly belong to Gram-positive bacteria such as Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, Streptococcus, Saccharomyces, Bacillus and Enterococcus. Initiated almost a century ago, the probiotic application has come a long way. The present review is focused on the potential therapeutic role of probiotics in ameliorating multiple infections, such as upper respiratory tract infections and viral respiratory infections, including COVID-19; liver diseases and hepatic encephalopathy; neurological and psychiatric disorders; autoimmune diseases, particularly rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus and multiple sclerosis. Apart from these, the therapeutic exacerbations of probiotics in urinary tract infections have been extremely promising, and several approaches are reviewed and presented here. We also present upcoming and new thrust areas where probiotic therapeutic interventions are showing promising results, like faecal microbial transplant and vaginal microbial transplant.

Background: The human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is responsible for causing upper and lower respiratory tract infections in young children. RSV Fusion (F) protein is a surface glycoprotein that facilitates virus entry into host cells. Thus, newer designing of RSV Fusion (F) protein inhibitors is required on an urgent basis. Methods: In the present study, we have developed statistically robust. Quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) models for the effective designing of newer analogues of piperazinylquinoline derivatives (H1-H12). Results: Our developed models were retained with high statistical parameters (R² > 0.6 and Q² 0.5). Our developed pharmacophore, model (AADHRR_2) (indicating that two hydrogen bond acceptors, one hydrogen bond donor, one hydrophobic group, and two aromatic rings) is crucial for retaining the activities of piperazinylquinoline derivatives against RSV. Moreover, docking analysis of 12 new analogues on RSV pre-F in complex with 5C4 Fab (PDB ID: 5W23) and post-F trimeric protein (PDB ID: 3RRR) suggested higher affinities of these molecules against studied targets with good docking scores. Conclusion: Thus, one can implement developed QSAR models, docking analogy and Pharmacophore models for identifications of potent leads for designed molecules as RSV Fusion (F) protein inhibitors.