Melanocortins are tiny protein molecules formed by the post-translational cleavage of proopiomelanocortin. These are bioactive peptides that are responsible for human and lower animal pigmentation patterns, energy homeostasis, and sexual function modulation. These peptides regulate numerous physiological functions by being generated in the central nervous system and peripheral tissues. Melanocortins elicit their varied biological effects by binding to a separate family of G protein, two primary proteolytic enzymes, proconvertases 1 and 2, according to the recent research. These breakthroughs have opened up new avenues for research into the role of melanocortins, antagonists, and receptors in a number of physiological activities.

Metformin is a widely used drug in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Metformin inhibits hepatic gluconeogenesis and increases glucose utilization in peripheral tissues. In recent years, several studies have shown that metformin is a potential therapeutic agent against cancer, alone or combined with other anticancer treatments. Metformin mainly activates the AMPK complex and regulates intracellular energy status, inhibiting the mitochondrial respiratory chain complex I and reducing the production of reactive oxygen species. Other anticancer targets of metformin are specific transcription factors inhibiting cell proliferation, promoting apoptosis and reducing drug resistance. In addition, metformin modulates tumor cells response to anticancer treatments, favoring the activity of T cells. In diabetic patients, metformin reduces the occurrence of cancer and improves the prognosis and efficacy of anticancer treatments. In this review, we provided a comprehensive perspective of metformin as an anticancer drug.

More than 150 million people have significant fungal diseases that have a growing impact on health care and economic expenditures. The expansion of systemic fungal infections and invasive mycoses is being driven by an increase in the number of immunocompromised patients, and to the recent COVID-19 patients, especially severely ill. There have been numerous cases of fungal infections linked to COVID-19, with pulmonary aspergillosis dominating at first, but with the subsequent appearance of mucormycosis, candidiasis, and endemic mycoses. Candida spp. is the most frequent pathogen, with approximately 1 billion infections each year, among other species causing most prevalent invasive fungal infections. The importance of recognizing the epidemiological shifts of invasive fungal infections in patient care cannot be overstated. Despite the enormous antifungal therapies available for treatment, these infections are difficult to diagnose and cause high rates of morbidity and mortality. Treatment choices for systemic fungal infections are severely limited due to the limitations of conventional therapy effectiveness and drug toxicities. So the researchers are still looking for novel therapeutic options such as carrier-based approaches that are convenient, cost-effective with high and long-lasting fungal infection cure rates with reduced toxicities. The focus of this study is on summarizing the nanotechnology, immunotherapy methods and the drugs under clinical trials, that have been employed in treatment as carrier based antifungal formulations. Most of these have been reported to be promising strategies with broad-spectrum antifungal action and the potential to overcome antibiotic resistance mechanisms. We speculate that this review summarized the current knowledge to its best that will help the future developments of new antifungal therapies.

The coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus. Infection with SARS-CoV-2 is associated with acute respiratory distress syndrome, thrombosis and a high rate of mortality. Thrombotic events increase with severity. Tissue factor (TF) expression is increased during viral and bacterial infections. This review summarizes studies that have examined TF expression in response to SARS-CoV-2 infection. SARS-CoV-2 virus and its proteins upregulate TF mRNA, protein and activity in a variety of cells, including bronchial epithelial cells, neutrophils, monocytes, macrophages, endothelial cells and adventitial fibroblasts. COVID-19 patients have increased TF expression in lungs, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and circulating extracellular vesicles. The increase in TF was associated with coagulation activation markers, thrombosis, inflammatory markers, severity of disease and mortality. Taken together, the studies suggest that TF plays a central role in thrombosis in COVID- 19. TF may be a useful prognostic marker and therapeutic target to reduce thrombosis and inflammation.

Various drugs are not able to reach the market due to their poor bioavailability and poor solubility in aqueous media. Hence, several approaches are used to enhance the solubility of poorly water-soluble drugs. Co-crystallization is one of the approaches used to enhance the solubility of poorly water-soluble drugs. Co-crystals are solid crystalline substances consisting of two or more ingredients in a stoichiometric ratio in which one of the ingredients is an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) and the other is a co-former. API and co-former mix with one another in a co-crystal through intermolecular interactions. This review represents an overview of co-crystals, a comparison of co-crystals and other solid forms, mechanisms of solubility enhancement by co-crystals in brief, techniques of co-former selection, a list of co-formers used during various co-crystals formation and a list of marketed co-crystals formulation, method of co-crystals preparation and characterization techniques of co-crystals.