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Herpes simplex virus infections have been described in the medical literature for centuries, yet the the drugs available nowadays for therapy are largely ineffective and low oral bioavailability plays an important role on the inefficacy of the treatments. Additionally, the details of the inhibition of Herpes Virus type 1 are still not fully understood. Studies have shown that several viruses encode one or more proteases required for the production new infectious virions. This study presents an analysis of the interactions between HSV-1 protease and benzoxazinone derivatives through a combination of structure-activity relationships, comparative modeling and molecular docking studies. The structure activity relationship results showed an important contribution of hydrophobic and polarizable groups and limitations for bulky groups in specific positions. Two Herpes Virus type 1 protease models were constructed and compared to achieve the best model which was obtained by MODELLER. Molecular docking results pointed to an important interaction between the most potent benzoxazinone derivative and Ser129, consistent with previous mechanistic data. Moreover, we also observed hydrophobic interactions that may play an important role in the stabilization of inhibitors in the active site. Finally, we performed druglikeness and drugscore studies of the most potent derivatives and the drugs currently used against Herpes virus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As part of a continuing search for new potential anticancer candidates, we describe the synthesis, cytotoxicity and mechanistic evaluation of a series of 4-oxoquinoline-3-carboxamide derivatives as novel anticancer agents. The inhibitory activity of compounds 10-18 was determined against three cancer cell lines using the MTT colorimetric assay. The screening revealed that derivatives 16b and 17b exhibited significant cytotoxic activity against the gastric cancer cell line but was not active against a normal cell line, in contrast to doxorubicin, a standard chemotherapeutic drug in clinical use. Interestingly, no hemolytical activity was observed when the toxicity of 16b and 17b was tested against blood cells. The in silico and in vitro mechanistic evaluation indicated the potential of 16b as a lead for the development of novel anticancer agents against gastric cancer cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]