Blood or Cardio-cerebrovascular Disease

Rapamycin (Sirolimus; AY 22989) is a potent and specific blood-brain barrier-transmissible mTOR inhibitor with an IC₅₀ of 0.1 nM in HEK293 cells. Rapamycin is a molecular glue that binds FKBP12 and mTOR proteins together, thereby inhibiting mTOR kinase activity. Rapamycin binds to FKBP12 and specifically acts as an allosteric inhibitor of mTORC1. Rapamycin is an autophagy activator, an immunosuppressant.

Dexamethasone (Hexadecadrol) is a glucocorticoid receptor agonist, apoptosis inducer, and common disease inducer in experimental animals, constructing models of muscle atrophy, hypertension, and depression. Dexamethasone can inhibit the production of inflammatory miRNA-155 exosomes in macrophages and significantly reduce the expression of inflammatory factors in neutrophils and monocytes. Dexamethasone also has potential for use in COVID-19 research.

Forskolin (Coleonol) is a potent adenylate cyclase activator with an IC₅₀ of 41 nM and an EC₅₀ of 0.5 μM for type I adenylyl cyclase. Forskolin is also an inducer of intracellular cAMP formation. Forskolin induces differentiation of various cell types and activates pregnane X receptor (PXR) and FXR. Forskolin exerts a inotropic effect on the heart, and has platelet antiaggregatory and antihypertensive actions. Forskolin also induces autophagy.

Angiotensin II (Angiotensin II) is a vasoconstrictor and a major bioactive peptide of the renin/angiotensin system. Angiotensin II human plays a central role in regulating human blood pressure, which is mainly mediated by interactions between Angiotensin II and the G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) Angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT1R) and Angiotensin II type 2 receptor (AT2R). Angiotensin II human stimulates sympathetic nervous stimulation, increases aldosterone biosynthesis and renal actions. Angiotensin II human induces growth of vascular smooth muscle cells, increases collagen type I and III synthesis in fibroblasts, leading to thickening of the vascular wall and myocardium, and fibrosis. Angiotensin II human also induces apoptosis. Angiotensin II induces capillary formation from endothelial cells via the LOX-1 dependent redox-sensitive pathway.

Paclitaxel is a naturally occurring antineoplastic agent and stabilizes tubulin polymerization. Paclitaxel can cause both mitotic arrest and apoptotic cell death. Paclitaxel also induces autophagy.

ML385 is a potent and selective Nrf2 inhibitor with an IC₅₀ of 1.9 μM. ML385 directly binds to the Neh1 domain of NRF2, interferes with the binding of the MAFG-NRF2 protein complex to the antioxidant response element (ARE) DNA sequence, thereby blocking the expression of downstream target genes of NRF2. ML385 can be used in studies related to adult T-cell leukemia, breast cancer, myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury, non-small cell lung cancer, esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, and lung squamous cell carcinoma.

L-Ascorbic acid (L-Ascorbate), an electron donor, is an endogenous antioxidant agent. L-Ascorbic acid inhibits selectively Ca_v3.2 channels with an IC₅₀ of 6.5 μM. L-Ascorbic acid is also a collagen deposition enhancer and an elastogenesis inhibitor. L-Ascorbic acid exhibits anti-cancer effects through the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and selective damage to cancer cells.

Sorafenib (Bay 43-9006) is a potent oral active multikinase inhibitor. Sorafenib blocks autophosphorylation and activity of receptor tyrosine kinases (VEGFR-2, VEGFR-3) and RAF family kinases, thereby suppressing the RAF/MEK/ERK and PI3K/Akt pathways, inhibiting STAT3 phosphorylation, and selectively inhibiting the MAPK pathway in cancer cells. Sorafenib induces cell cycle arrest, autophagy, apoptosis, and PARP cleavage, reduces Bcl-2, Bcl-XL, cyclin D1 levels, and activates Bak and Bax. Sorafenib inhibits tumor growth and metastasis in mouse and rat models. Sorafenib can be used for cancer research, such as colon, breast, non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), ovarian, pancreatic, melanoma, colorectal and hepatocellular carcinoma.

LY294002 is a broad-spectrum inhibitor of PI3K with IC₅₀s of 0.5, 0.57, and 0.97 μM for PI3Kα, PI3Kδ and PI3Kβ, respectively. LY294002 also inhibits CK2 with an IC₅₀ of 98 nM. LY294002 is a competitive DNA-PK inhibitor that binds reversibly to the kinase domain of DNA-PK with an IC₅₀ of 1.4 μM. LY294002 is an apoptosis activator.

5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) is an analogue of uracil and a potent antitumor agent. 5-Fluorouracil affects pyrimidine synthesis by inhibiting thymidylate synthetase thus depleting intracellular dTTP pools. 5-Fluorouracil induces apoptosis and can be used as a chemical sensitizer. 5-Fluorouracil also inhibits HIV.

Venetoclax (ABT-199; GDC-0199) is a highly potent, selective and orally bioavailable Bcl-2 inhibitor with a K_i of less than 0.01 nM. Venetoclax induces autophagy.

Bortezomib (PS-341) is a reversible and selective proteasome inhibitor, and potently inhibits 20S proteasome (K_i=0.6 nM) by targeting a threonine residue. Bortezomib disrupts the cell cycle, induces apoptosis, and inhibits NF-κB. Bortezomib is the first proteasome inhibitor anticancer agent. Bortezomib can be used for the study of multiple myeloma (MM). Bortezomib effectively inhibits TREM2 expression in tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs).

Etoposide (VP-16; VP-16-213) is an anti-cancer chemotherapy agent. Etoposide inhibits topoisomerase II, thus stopping DNA replication. Etoposide induces cell cycle arrest, apoptosis and autophagy.

Metformin (1,1-Dimethylbiguanide) inhibits the mitochondrial respiratory chain in the liver, leading to AMPK activation and enhancing insulin sensitivity, and can be used in the study of type 2 diabetes. Metformin exerts central glucose-lowering effects by inhibiting Ras-related protein 1 (Rap1) in SF1 hypothalamic neurons. Metformin also inhibits liver oxidative stress, nitrosative stress, inflammation, and apoptosis caused by liver ischemia/reperfusion injury. In addition, Metformin regulates the expression of autophagy-related proteins by activating AMPK and inhibiting the mTOR signaling pathway, thereby inducing tumor cell autophagy and inhibiting the growth of renal cell carcinoma in vitro and in vivo.

Palmitic acid is a long-chain saturated fatty acid commonly found in both animals and plants. PA can induce the expression of glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78) and CCAAT/enhancer binding protein homologous protein (CHOP) in in mouse granulosa cells. Palmitic acid is used to establish a cell steatosis model.

Gemcitabine (LY 188011) is a pyrimidine nucleoside analog antimetabolite and an antineoplastic agent. Gemcitabine inhibits DNA synthesis and repair, and can modulate autophagy. Gemcitabine induces apoptosis through the activation of p38 MAPK. Gemcitabine demonstrates efficacy in mouse models of pancreatic and breast cancer. Gemcitabine can be used for cancer research, such as pancreatic cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, and breast cancer.

Daraxonrasib (RMC-6236) is an orally active, non-covalent RAS (ON) inhibitor. Daraxonrasib disrupts the interaction of wild-type or mutant RAS proteins with the RAS binding domain of BRAF, with EC₅₀ values ranging from 28-220 nM for wild-type KRAS, NRAS, HRAS, and multiple oncogenic RAS variants. Daraxonrasib inhibits pERK. Daraxonrasib has anti-tumor activity against KRAS mutant tumors.

Ruxolitinib (INCB18424) is an orally active and selective JAK1/2 inhibitor with IC₅₀s of 3.3 nM and 2.8 nM in cell-free assays, and has 130-fold selectivity for JAK1/2 over JAK3. Ruxolitinib induces autophagy and kills tumor cells through toxic mitophagy.

BAY 11-7082 is an IκBα phosphorylation and NF-κB inhibitor. BAY 11-7082 selectively and irreversibly inhibits the TNF-α-induced phosphorylation of IκB-α, and decreases NF-κB and expression of adhesion molecules. BAY 11-7082 inhibits ubiquitin-specific protease USP7 and USP21 (IC₅₀=0.19, 0.96 μM, respectively). BAY 11-7082 inhibits gasdermin D (GSDMD) pore formation in liposomes and inflammasome-mediated pyroptosis and IL-1β secretion in human and mouse cells.

Estradiol (β-Estradiol) is a steroid hormone and the major female sex hormone. Estradiol can up-regulate the expression of neural markers of human endometrial stem cells (hEnSCs) and promote their neural differentiation. Estradiol can be used for the research of cancers, neurodegenerative diseases and neural tissue engineering.