Darglitazone Sodium

The expression of hERG K+ channels is observed in various cancer cells including epithelial, neuronal, leukemic, and connective tissue. The role of hERG potassium channels in regulating the growth and death of cancer cells include cell proliferation, survival, secretion of proangiogenic factors, invasiveness, and metastasis.

In the reported study, an attempt has been made to investigate some non-cancer hERG blockers as potential cancer therapeutics using a computational drug repurposing strategy. Preliminary investigation for hERG blockers/non-blockers has identified 26 potential clinically approved compounds for further studies using molecular modeling.

The interactions at the binding pockets have been investigated along with the prioritization based on the binding score. Some of the identified potential hERG inhibitors, i.e., Bromocriptine, Darglitazone, and Troglitazone, have been investigated to derive the mechanism of cancer inhibition.

The proposed mechanism for anti-cancer properties via hERG blocking for some of the potential compounds is required to be explored using other experimental methodologies. The drug repurposing approach applied to investigate anti-cancer therapeutics may direct to provide a therapeutic solution to late-stage cancer and benefit a significant population of patients.

Diabetes is an increased risk factor for stroke and results in increased brain damage in experimental animals and humans. The precise mechanisms are unclear, but our earlier studies in the db/db mice suggested that the cerebral inflammatory response initiating recovery was both delayed and diminished in the diabetic mice compared with the nondiabetic db/+ mice. In this study, we investigated the actions of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-γ agonist darglitazone in treating diabetes and promoting recovery after a hypoxic-ischemic (H/I) insult in the diabetic ob/ob mouse. Male ob/+ and ob/ob mice received darglitazone (1 mg/kg) for 7 days before induction of H/I. Darglitazone restored euglycemia and normalized elevated corticosterone, triglycerides, and very-low-density lipoprotein levels. Darglitazone dramatically reduced the infarct size in the ob/ob mice at 24 h of recovery compared with the untreated group (30±13% to 3.3±1.6%, n=6 to 8) but did not show any significant effect in the ob/+ mice. Microglial and astrocytic activation monitored by cytokine expression (interleukin-1β and tumor necrosis factor-α) and in situ hybridization studies ( bfl1 and glial fibrillary acidic protein) suggest a biphasic inflammatory response, with darglitazone restoring the compromised proinflammatory response(s) in the diabetic mouse at 4 h but suppressing subsequent inflammatory responses at 8 and 24 h in both control and diabetic mice.