@article{TanBabakVenkatesanetal.2019,
  author    = {Tan, Aaron and Babak, Maria V. and Venkatesan, Gopalakrishnan and Lim, Clarissa and Klotz, Karl-Norbert and Herr, Deron Raymond and Cheong, Siew Lee and Federico, Stephanie and Spalluto, Giampiero and Ong, Wei-Yi and Chen, Yu Zong and Loo, Jason Siau Ee and Pastorin, Giorgia},
  title     = {Design, Synthesis and Evaluation of New Indolylpyrimidylpiperazines for Gastrointestinal Cancer Therapy},
  series = {Molecules},
  volume    = {24},
  journal   = {Molecules},
  number    = {20},
  issn      = {1420-3049},
  doi       = {10.3390/molecules24203661},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-193271},
  pages     = {3661},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {Human A3 adenosine receptor hA3AR has been implicated in gastrointestinal cancer, where its cellular expression has been found increased, thus suggesting its potential as a molecular target for novel anticancer compounds. Observation made in our previous work indicated the importance of the carbonyl group of amide in the indolylpyrimidylpiperazine (IPP) for its human A2A adenosine receptor (hA2AAR) subtype binding selectivity over the other AR subtypes. Taking this observation into account, we structurally modified an indolylpyrimidylpiperazine (IPP) scaffold, 1 (a non-selective adenosine receptors' ligand) into a modified IPP (mIPP) scaffold by switching the position of the carbonyl group, resulting in the formation of both ketone and tertiary amine groups in the new scaffold. Results showed that such modification diminished the A2A activity and instead conferred hA3AR agonistic activity. Among the new mIPP derivatives (3-6), compound 4 showed potential as a hA3AR partial agonist, with an Emax of 30\% and EC50 of 2.89 ± 0.55 μM. In the cytotoxicity assays, compound 4 also exhibited higher cytotoxicity against both colorectal and liver cancer cells as compared to normal cells. Overall, this new series of compounds provide a promising starting point for further development of potent and selective hA3AR partial agonists for the treatment of gastrointestinal cancers.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{ShityakovSalvadorPastorinetal.2015,
  author    = {Shityakov, Sergey and Salvador, Ellaine and Pastorin, Giorgia and F{\"o}rster, Carola},
  title     = {Blood-brain barrier transport studies, aggregation, and molecular dynamics simulation of multiwalled carbon nanotube functionalized with fluorescein isothiocyanate},
  series = {International Journal of Nanomedicine},
  volume    = {10},
  journal   = {International Journal of Nanomedicine},
  doi       = {10.2147/IJN.S68429},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-149233},
  pages     = {1703-1713},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {In this study, the ability of a multiwalled carbon nanotube functionalized with fluorescein isothiocyanate (MWCNT-FITC) was assessed as a prospective central nervous system-targeting drug delivery system to permeate the blood-brain barrier. The results indicated that the MWCNT-FITC conjugate is able to penetrate microvascular cerebral endothelial monolayers; its concentrations in the Transwell® system were fully equilibrated after 48 hours. Cell viability test, together with phase-contrast and fluorescence microscopies, did not detect any signs of MWCNT-FITC toxicity on the cerebral endothelial cells. These microscopic techniques also revealed presumably the intracellular localization of fluorescent MWCNT-FITCs apart from their massive nonfluorescent accumulation on the cellular surface due to nanotube lipophilic properties. In addition, the 1,000 ps molecular dynamics simulation in vacuo discovered the phenomenon of carbon nanotube aggregation driven by van der Waals forces via MWCN-TFITC rapid dissociation as an intermediate phase.},
  language  = {en}
}