The total synthesis of a hydrated aurone derivative, 2-benzyl-4-methoxy-2,6-dihydroxybenzofuran-3（2H）-one, has been achieved for the first time with 2.4% overall yield. Using phloroglucinol as the starting material, the key steps included Friedel-Crafts acylation, Williamson synthesis, hydrogenolysis, aldol condensation, enolization and Rubottom oxidation.
CGRP receptor（CLR） is a B class GPCR that functions only when combined with RAMPs. CLR/RAMP1 has been regarded as a promising target for migraine treatment, as its antagonists have been proved to be effective recently. In the present study we designed and synthesized small molecular antagonists against CLR/RAMP1, resulting in a novel type of structure with acceptable high potency. The molecules were designed via virtual screening. Afterwards, a series of modification were conducted on the hit compounds, resulting in compound 8 as the best scored compound in docking, which was further validated in vitro by cell-based functional assay.
Cationic lipids have been applied to siRNA delivery for tumor therapeutics. However, the excess positive charges of these nanoplexes may lead to high cytotoxicity and nonnegligible immunogenicity both in vitro and in vivo, which limited the applications of gene drugs. We constructed multi-component lipoplex to delivery 3＇,3＂-bis-peptide-siRNA conjugate （pp-siRNA） by the treatment of melanoma. Based on the previous studies that the gemini lipid （CLD） encapsulated pp-siRNA, a novel neutral cytosin-l-yl- lipid （DNCA） was considered to replace a certain ration of CLD by hydrogen bonds and ~t-n stacking for reducing the cytotoxicity. It similarly retained in both the loading efficiency and targeted mRNA inhibition when DNCA was accounted for 40% in the lipoplex, with lower toxicity. Moreover, CLD/DNCA/pp-siRNA nanoplex could be uptake in A375 cells and internalized mainly by macropinocytosis and caveolin-mediated endocytosis. Besides, 90% CLD/DNCA/pp-siRNA nanoplexes presented the highest efficient knockdown for the mutant B-RAF mRNA （-80%）. All the results demonstrated that the mixed cationic and neutral lipids could efficiently realize the delivery of pp-siRNA and had potential application for cancer therapy.
