Antibiotics

Antibiotics are types of antimicrobial products used for the treatment and prevention of bacterial infections. Antibiotics can kill or inhibit bacterial growth. Although the target of an antibiotic is bacteria, some antibiotics also attack fungi and protozoans. However, antibiotics rarely have an effect on viruses. The major mechanism underlying antibiotics is the inhibition or regulation of enzymes involved in cell wall biosynthesis, nucleic acid metabolism and repair, protein synthesis, or disruption of membrane structure. Many of these cellular functions targeted by antibiotics are most active in multiplying cells. Since there is often overlap in these functions between prokaryotic bacterial cells and eukaryotic mammalian cells, it is not surprising that some antibiotics have also been found to be useful as anticancer agents.

MCE supplies a unique collection of 689 antibiotics, including penicillins, cephalosporins, tetracyclines, macrolides, etc. MCE Antibiotics Library is a useful tool for anti-bacterial or anti-cancer drugs discovery.

Mitochondria, as the main place of energy supply in life, is essential to maintain normal life activities. Mitochondrial dysfunction is associated with common diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes and cancer. The heart, brain and liver rely heavily on mitochondrial function as the main organs for drug metabolism. In addition, mitochondria is also a target of many drugs, some of which induce organotoxicity by inducing mitochondrial toxicity.

MCE contains 492 mitochondrial toxic compounds, which can be used as tool compounds for drug development and disease mechanism research.

Glycosides are compounds in which a sugar group is bonded through its anomeric carbon to another group via a glycosidic bond. Many biologically active compounds are glycosides. Glycosides comprise several important classes of compounds such as hormones, sweeteners, alkaloids, flavonoids, antibiotics, etc. The glycosidic residue can be crucial for their activity or can only improve pharmacokinetic parameters. Glycosides, which exhibit anti-inflammatory, anti-infection, anti-cancer and anti-oxidative properties, play numerous important roles in living organisms, such as streptomycin, as an aminoglycoside antibiotic, has anti-infection activity. Anthracyclines possess good antibacterial and anti-cancer activities.

MCE Glycoside Compound Library contains a unique collection of 789 glycoside compounds and is a useful tool to discovery glycoside drugs.

Drug-induced liver injury (DILI; also known as drug-induced hepatotoxicity) is caused by medications (prescription or OTC), herbal and dietary supplements (HDS), or other xenobiotics that result in abnormalities in liver tests or in hepatic dysfunction that cannot be explained by other causes. Drugs are an important cause of liver injury. Drug-induced hepatic injury is the most common reason cited for withdrawal of an approved drug.

DILI is thought to occur via several different mechanisms. Among these are direct impairment of the structural (e.g., mitochondrial dysfunction) and functional integrity of the liver; production of a metabolite that alters hepatocellular structure and function; production of a reactive drug metabolite that binds to hepatic proteins to produce new antigenic drug-protein adducts, which are targeted by hosts’ defenses (the hapten hypothesis); and initiation of a systemic hypersensitivity response (i.e., drug allergy) that damages the liver.

MCE Drug-induced Liver Injury (DILI) Compound Library contains a unique collection of 1,440 hepatotoxicity causing compounds and is a powerful tool to research DILI and other drug toxicities. This library can be used to understand the mechanisms of DILI, identify biomarkers for early DILI prediction, and allow timely recognition during drug development, thus finally achieving successful DILI prevention and assessment in the pre-marketing phase.

Chemotherapy is one of the most common treatments for cancer. It can be used alone for some types of cancer or in combination with other treatments such as radiation or surgery. Chemotherapy drugs usually target cells at different phases of the cell cycle and inhibit tumor proliferation and avoid cancer cell invasion and metastasis. It is a cancer treatment method that kills cancer cells with drugs.

Chemotherapeutic agents can be classified into alkylating agents, antimetabolites, antimicrotubular agents, antibiotics, etc. according to the mechanism of action. MCE offers a unique collection of 102 chemotherapy drugs, which is a useful tool for cancer treatment research.

Nature has been a source of medicinal products for millennia, with many useful active substances developed from plant sources. In the 20th century, the discovery of the penicillin was the starting point for drug discovery from microbial sources. Microorganisms， which have been considered to be a rich source of unique bioactive compounds, play an important role in the development of the chemistry of natural products and medical therapy. Microbial metabolites have proved to be affective antimicrobial agents, anti-tumor agents, enzyme inhibitors, anti-inflammatory agents, etc. Today, many microbial-originated antibiotics are available in the mark, and a large number of bioactive metabolites are used in medicine.

MCE provides a unique collection of 1,118 microbial metabolites, which is an important source of lead compounds and can be used for drug discovery.

Resistance refers to the decrease in the effectiveness of drugs in treating diseases or symptoms. Due to the increasing global antibiotic resistance, it may threaten our ability to treat common infectious diseases. Drug resistance is also the main cause of chemotherapy failure in malignant tumors. In approximately 50% of cases, drug resistance exists even before chemotherapy begins. There are many mechanisms of anticancer drug resistance, including increased protein expression that leads to drug removal, mutations in drug binding sites, recovery of tumor protein production, and pre-existing genetic heterogeneity in tumor cell populations. In addition, the issue of drug resistance seems to have affected the development of new anticancer drugs. Drug resistance may be caused by various conditions, such as mutations, epigenetic modifications, and upregulation of drug efflux protein expression. Overcoming multidrug resistance in cancer treatment is becoming increasingly important.

MCE designs a unique collection of 409 anti-drug-resistant compounds. It is a good tool to be used for research on cancer and other diseases.

Tuberculosis (TB), usually caused by bacteria (Mycobacterium tuberculosis), is an infectious disease that mainly affects the lungs. According to the statistics of the World Health Organization (WHO), 10 million people suffer from tuberculosis every year, and 1.5 million people die of tuberculosis every year, which makes tuberculosis the number one killer of infectious diseases.

Tuberculosis can be cured through the standard 6-month course of treatment of four kinds of antibiotics. Common drugs include rifampicin and isoniazid. In some cases, TB bacteria do not respond to standard drugs, that is, patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis. The treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis takes longer and is more complex. In the face of the resurgence of tuberculosis in the world and the rapid emergence of multi drug resistant tuberculosis, it is very important to develop new anti-tuberculosis drugs or new clinical treatment schemes for existing anti mycobacterium drugs.

MCE supplies a unique collection of 103 compounds with clear anti-tuberculosis activity. MCE Anti-tuberculosis Compound Library is a useful tool for anti-tuberculosis related research and anti-tuberculosis drug development

MCE G418 Selective Antibiotic, Sterile is an aminoglycoside antibiotic produced by Micromonospora rhodorangea. It acts by binding to the 80S subunit of the bacterial ribosome, thus inhibiting protein synthesis in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells.

MCE Antibiotic-Antifungal (100 ×), Sterile contains 10 KU/mL of penicillin, 10 mg/mL of streptomycin, and 25 μg/mL of Amphotericin B. The antibiotics penicillin and streptomycin prevent bacterial contamination, and Amphotericin B prevents fungal contamination.

Kanamycin sulfate is an aminoglycoside antibiotic purified from Streptomyces kanamyceticus. It acts by binding to the 30S subunit of the bacterial ribosome and inhibiting protein synthesis in susceptible bacteria.

Blasticidin S is a peptidyl nucleoside antibiotic isolated from Streptomyces griseochromogenes. It acts by blocking hydrolysis of peptidyl-tRNA induced by release factors and inhibits peptide bond formation.

MCE Amphotericin B is a polyene antifungal antibiotic produced by Streptomyces nodosus. It can bind with sterols to form transmembrane channels, resulting in the leakage of intracellular substances, thus inhibiting fungal and yeast contamination.

MCE Hygromycin B, Sterile is an aminoglycosidic antibiotic purified from Streptomyces hygroscopicus. It acts by binding to the 70S subunit of the bacterial ribosome and inhibiting protein synthesis, leading to the death of bacteria, fungi and mammalian cells.

Puromycin is an aminonucleoside antibiotic produced by Streptomyces alboniger. It inhibits protein synthesis by disrupting peptide transfer on ribosomes, causing premature chain termination during translation. It can kill most gram-positive bacteria and various animal or insect cells.