Double the Chemistry, Double the Fun: Structural Diversity and Biological Activity of Marine-Derived Diketopiperazine Dimers

• Type: Another Publication in an International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2019-09

Authors

Nelson G. M. Gomes (Author) FFUP; Renato B. Pereira (Author) FFUP; Paula B Andrade (Author) FFUP; Patricia Valentao (Author) FFUP

Journal

Title: Marine Drugs

Vol. 17

Final page: 551

ISSN: 1660-3397

Publisher: MDPI

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 0 Citations

Scopus - 8 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00R-4EE

DOI: 10.3390/md17100551

Abstract (EN): While several marine natural products bearing the 2,5-diketopiperazine ring have been reported to date, the unique chemistry of dimeric frameworks appears to remain neglected. Frequently reported from marine-derived strains of fungi, many naturally occurring diketopiperazine dimers have been shown to display a wide spectrum of pharmacological properties, particularly within the field of cancer and antimicrobial therapy. While their structures illustrate the unmatched power of marine biosynthetic machinery, often exhibiting unsymmetrical connections with rare linkage frameworks, enhanced binding ability to a variety of pharmacologically relevant receptors has been also witnessed. The existence of a bifunctional linker to anchor two substrates, resulting in a higher concentration of pharmacophores in proximity to recognition sites of several receptors involved in human diseases, portrays this group of metabolites as privileged lead structures for advanced pre-clinical and clinical studies. Despite the structural novelty of various marine diketopiperazine dimers and their relevant bioactive properties in several models of disease, to our knowledge, this attractive subclass of compounds is reviewed here for the first time.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 29