Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology Commons^™

Development Of Miriplatin-Loaded Nanoparticles Against Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer, Zhongyue Yuan, Zizhao Xu, Xin Guo

Graduate and Professional Student Research Showcase

Lung cancer claims the highest mortality and the second-most new cases among all oncological diseases. NSCLC accounts for approximately 85% of all newly diagnosed lung cancers. Although platinum-based drugs are standard first-line chemotherapy for stage IIIB/IV NSCLC, accumulating reports have shown the failure of conventional platinum-based regimens due to drug resistance. Miriplatin is a lipophilic anti-cancer drug that has been approved in Japan for transcatheter arterial chemoembolization treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma. Lipid-based nanoparticles such as liposomes, micelles, and solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) can encapsulate anti-cancer drugs to improve their water solubility and bioavailability.

Recent Advances In The Treatment Of Opioid Use Disorder, Sumanth Kuppalli, Raghav Seth, Vwaire Orhurhu, Ivan Urits, Alan David Kaye, Corey Hunter, Amitabh Gulati, Peju Adekoya, Adam M. Kaye, Mark R. Jones

School of Pharmacy Faculty Articles

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Opioid use disorder (OUD) remains a national epidemic with an immense consequence to the United States' healthcare system. Current therapeutic options are limited by adverse effects and limited efficacy.

RECENT FINDINGS: Recent advances in therapeutic options for OUD have shown promise in the fight against this ongoing health crisis. Modifications to approved medication-assisted treatment (MAT) include office-based methadone maintenance, implantable and monthly injectable buprenorphine, and an extended-release injectable naltrexone. Therapies under investigation include various strategies such as heroin vaccines, gene-targeted therapy, and biased agonism at the G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR), but several pharmacologic, clinical, and practical barriers …

Valtoco® (Diazepam Nasal Spray) For The Acute Treatment Of Intermittent Stereotypic Episodes Of Frequent Seizure Activity, Elyse M. Cornett, Sam N. Amarasinghe, Alexis Angelette, Tunde Abubakar, Adam M. Kaye, Alan David Kaye, Elisa E. Neuchat, Ivan Urits, Omar Viswanath

School of Pharmacy Faculty Articles

Valtoco® is a new FDA-approved nasal spray version of diazepam indicated for the treatment of acute, intermittent, and stereotypic episodes of frequent seizure activity in epilepsy patients six years of age and older. Although IV and rectal diazepam are already used to treat seizure clusters, Valtoco® has less variability in plasma concentration compared to rectal diazepam. Furthermore, the intranasal administration of Valtoco® is more convenient and less invasive than rectal or IV diazepam, making it ideal for self-administration outside of a hospital setting. Multiple clinical trials have taken place comparing Valtoco® to the oral, rectal, and IV forms of diazepam. …

Virucidal Activity Of Chlorine Dioxide Gas For Reduction Of Coronavirus On Surfaces And Ppe, Jeffrey Driver, George Lukasik, Marie Bourgeois, Patricia Tam, Raymond Harbison

School of Pharmacy Faculty Articles

A coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has caused a global pandemic and associated morbidity and mortality resultant from COVID-19. As a result of efforts to control direct (person to person) and indirect (contaminated objects, surfaces, indoor air) transmission of the virus, various interventions have been evaluated. Studies were conducted to evaluate the efficacy of commercially available chlorine dioxide (CD) products to reduce viral loads on PPE (face masks) and surfaces using a novel dry gas release intervention. The efficacy of CD slow release 30-day sachets was tested on N95 face masks inoculated with human coronavirus OC43 in suspension. One sachet was placed with …

Post-Translational Modification And Degradation Mechanisms Of The Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor, Yujie Yang

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) is a transcription factor first discovered to be activated by exogenous ligands, such as dioxins, and helps promote downstream gene (e.g. CYP1A1) transcription to metabolize the toxicants. With the reports of various AHR targets genes, the expression levels and activities of AHR have been implicated in many physiological and pathological situations. Understanding how AHR protein level is regulated would provide more information to target AHR. AHR stays in the cytosol in the absence of ligand in a complex with HSP90, p23 and XAP2. After ligand activation, AHR translocates into the nucleus, fulfilling its transactivation function …

Development Of Linked-Domain Protein Inhibitors Of The E2-Conjugating Enzyme Ube2d, Anneroos E. Nederstigt

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

In most eukaryotic organisms, the ubiquitination pathway is one of the most important and versatile signaling systems in use. It is integral to processes such as protein degradation and homeostasis, DNA repair cell cycle regulation, signaling and regulation, epigenetics, and many more. Ubiquitin (Ub) is a short polypeptide of 8.6 kDa, 76 residues that functions as a reversible post-translation modification (PTM). It furthermore contains 7 different lysine residues (K6, K11, K27, K29, K33, K48, K63), all of which can form isopeptide linkages with one another to link individual Ub moieties to form unique polyUb chains onto substrates. The type of …