Nataliya Finiuk

Institute of Cell Biology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine · Department of Regulation of Cell Proliferation and Apoptosis

The prolonged war in Ukraine is having a strong impact on all sectors of the Ukrainian society, including biomedical research. Although the material and psychological conditions are challenging, the country and its researchers are courageously managing to continue their activities. This perspective paper describes the multiple challenges faced by U...

Simple Summary Breast cancer is one of the most frequent tumors worldwide, based on the number of new cases and deaths. Unfortunately, the low selectivity of action and the rapid development of multiple drug resistances remain the main disadvantages of anticancer compounds. The search for new agents with pronounced antitumor activity is an urgent t...

Particles with porous structure can lead to quick hemostasis and provide good matrix for cell proliferation during wound healing. Recently, many particle-based wound healing materials have been clinically applied. However,...

Calendula officinalis flowers, associated with diverse biological effects, could be utilized as functional food ingredients to play a crucial role in human health. In this study, we examined the anti‐PD activity of C. officinalis flower extracts and investigated their bioactive compounds and molecular mechanisms based on LC–MS/MS assay, bioinformat...

Endocytosis is one of the major ways cells communicate with their environment. This process is frequently hijacked by pathogens. Endocytosis also participates in the oncogenic transformation. Here, we review the approaches to inhibit endocytosis, discuss chemical inhibitors of this process, and discuss potential clinical applications of the endocyt...

Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by both motor and non-motor symptoms, including hypokinesia, postural instability, dopaminergic (DA) neurons loss, and α-synuclein (α-syn) accumulation. A growing number of patients show negative responses towards the current therapies. Thus, preventative or disease-modifying treatment agents are worth to f...

The hybrid heterocyclic molecules are perspective materials in the development of anticancer drugs. Here, the pyrrolidinedione-thiazolidinone hybrid molecules were designed as potent anticancer agents. This study aimed to investigate the cytotoxic effect of three derivatives 1-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-, 1-(4-chlorophenyl)- and 1-(4-bromophenyl)-3-[5-[2-ch...

Previously, we discovered that N-(5-benzyl-1,3-thiazol-2-yl)-4-(5-methyl-1H-1,2,3-triazol-1-yl)benzamide possessed a remarkable cytotoxic effect on 28 cancer cell lines with IC50 < 50 μM, including 9 cancer cell lines, where IC50 was in the range of 2.02-4.70 μM. In the present study, we designed a novel N-(5-benzylthiazol-2-yl)amide compound 3d th...

A series of 11-substituted 9-hydroxy-3,5,10,11-tetrahydro-2H-benzo[6,7]thiochromeno[2,3-d][1,3]thiazole-2,5,10-triones 3.1-3.13 were synthesized via hetero-Diels-Alder reaction of 5-ene-4-thioxo-2-thiazolidinones and 5-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone (juglone). The structure of newly synthesized compounds was established by means of spectral data and a...

A series of 11-substituted 3,5,10,11-tetrahydro-2H-benzo[6,7]thiochromeno[2,3-d][1,3]thiazole-2,5,10-triones were obtained via hetero-Diels-Alder reaction of 5-alkyl/arylallylidene/-4-thioxo-2-thiazolidinones and 1,4-naphthoquinones. The structures of newly synthesized compounds were established by spectral data and a single-crystal X-ray diffracti...

Cage amides and imides bearing bicyclo[2.2.1]- and bicyclo[2.2.2]-subunits were synthesized and evaluated both for antimicrobial activity toward five key ESKAPE pathogenic bacteria: one Gram‐positive bacteria methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 43300), four Gram‐negative bacteria Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922), Klebsiella pneumoniae (A...

Seven chromeno[4′,3':4,5]thiopyrano[2,3-d]thiazole derivatives were synthesized and screened for their cytotoxic effects on different lines of mammalian leukemia, breast adenocarcinoma, glioblastoma, and pseudo-normal and normal cells. The derivative 3 demonstrated toxicity towards tumor cells of Jurkat, K562, U251, HL-60, MCF-7, and MDA-MB-231 lin...

Novel pyridine-thiazole hybrid molecules were synthesized and subjected to physico-chemical characterization and screening of their cytotoxic action towards a panel of cell lines derived from different types of tumors (carcinomas of colon, breast, and lung, glioblastoma and leukemia), and normal human keratinocytes, for comparison. High antiprolife...

The N-(4-thiocyanatophenyl)-1H-1,2,3-triazole-4-carboxamides were synthesized via the condensation of variety of 1H-1,2,3-triazole-4-carboxylic acids and 4-thiocyanatoaniline using CDI as amide coupling reagents. According to computer-aided calculations, all synthesized compounds are expected to have acceptable ADME profile for drug design. The ant...

Background. Various cationic polymers have been proposed for use as carriers of genetic materials in biotechnology and biomedicine. The poly(2-dimethylamino)ethyl-methacrylate (poly(DMAEMA)) demonstrated high transfection efficiency and low cytotoxicity when used as a gene delivery system. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the ability of...

A series of novel pyrrolidinedione-thiazolidinones was synthesized and subjected to physico-chemical characteristics. They were screened on a panel of cell lines representing different types of cancer, as well as normal human keratynocytes and lymphocytes of peripheral human blood. High antiproliferative activity of 1-(4-chlorophenyl)- and 1-(4-hyd...

Arylsulfonamides bearing (aza)norbornane and related motifs were evaluated for: (1) antimicrobial activity toward five key ESKAPE pathogenic bacteria, one Gram‐positive bacteria methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA, ATCC 43300), four Gram‐negative bacteria, Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922), Klebsiella pneumonia (ATCC 700603), Acinetobacte...

Background The 1,2,3-triazole hybrids and conjugates containing natural or related compounds motif demonstrate diverse biological activities, including anticancer, antimicrobial, anti-tubercular, antiviral, antidiabetic, antimalarial, anti-leishmanial, and neuroprotective ones. Among a wide range of pharmacological applications, considerable attent...

The maleimide derivative 1-(4-chlorobenzyl)-3-chloro-4-(3-trifluoromethylphenylamino)-1H-pyrrole-2,5-dione (MI-1) was synthesized as inhibitor of several protein kinases, however, its application is hindered by its poor water solubility. In this study, the mechanisms of the antineoplastic action of MI-1 and its MI-1/M5 complex with M5 carrier (poly...

This chapter is devoted to the tailored synthesis and study of the properties of novel surface-active polymeric drug carriers containing side chains of PEG and other, including polyelectrolyte, chains for waterborne delivery systems. The strategy of synthesis of PEG-containing polymeric carriers via reactions of radical polymerization and further p...

Materials for targeted drug delivery and gene transfer, in particular for DNA and siRNA delivery into cells, are currently the two most relevant in the international pharmacological market. The leading positions in the field of drug delivery belong to the biocompatible and biodegradable multifunctional nanoscale materials capable of forming water-s...

A series of novel indole-azolidinone hybrids has been synthesized via Knoevenagel reaction of 5-fluoro-3-formyl-1H-indole-2-carboxylic acid methyl ester and some azolidinones differing in heteroatoms in positions 1, 2 and 4. Their anticancer activity in vitro was screened towards MCF-7 (breast cancer), HCT116 (colon cancer), HepG2 (hepatoma), HeLa...

Introduction. Genetic engineering in plants is of great importance for agriculture, biotechnology and medicine, and nanomaterials are widely used for genetic engineering. The aim of present study was to evaluate the potential of poly(2-dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA)-based comb-like polymers as gene delivery systems in moss Ceratodon purp...

Arylsulfonamides bearing (aza)norbornane and related motifs were evaluated for: 1) antimicrobial activity toward five key ESKAPE pathogenic bacteria, one Gram‐positive bacteria methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA, ATCC 43300), four Gram‐negative bacteria, Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922), Klebsiella pneumonia (ATCC 700603), Acinetobacter...

Thiazole derivatives were shown to have toxic effects in vitro on cancer cells of different origin and can be considered as potentially antineoplastic, but their effect on the normal tissues needs to be studied. In this research the newly synthesized thiazole derivatives of N-(5-benzyl-1,3-thiazol-2-yl)-3,5-dimethyl-1-benzo-furan-2-carboxamide (BF1...

Three series of novel 1H-1,2,3-triazole-4-carboxamides: 1-aryl-5-alkyl/aryl-1H-1,2,3-triazole-4-carboxamides, 1-aryl-5-amino-1H-1,2,3-triazole-4-carboxamides and 1,2,3-triazolo[1,5-a]quinazoline-3-carboxamides were synthesized via base-mediated click azide reactions. Compounds were evaluated for their antimicrobial activities against primary pathog...

Thiazole derivatives are perspective antitumor compounds characterized by a broad range of bioactivity, while polymeric carriers are widely used to enhance the efficiency of biological action of drugs, improve their biocompatibility and water solubility. Previously, we identified that the thiazole-based derivative BF1 (N-(5-benzyl-1,3-thiazol-2-yl)...

An aberrant activity of growth factor receptors followed by excessive cell proliferation plays a significant role in pathogenesis of cholangitis. Therefore, inhibition of these processes could be a fruitful therapeutic strategy. The effects of multi-kinase inhibitor 1-(4-Cl-benzyl)-3-chloro-4-(CF3-phenylamino)-1H-pyrrole-2,5-dione (MI-1) on the hep...

Background. The influence in vitro of thiazole derivative 8-methyl-2-Me-7-[trifluoro­methyl-phenylmethyl]-pyrazolo-[4,3-e]-[1,3]-thiazolo-[3,2-a]-pyrimidin-4(2H)-one (PP2) on the level of lipid peroxidation products, superoxide anion radical and antioxidant system activity in lymphoma cells was studied. A pronounced cytotoxic action of the thiazole...

Background. The heterocyclic scaffolds are in the list of key structural blocks used at synthesis of novel biologically active compounds. Materials and Methods. The present study addressed the evaluation of the mecha­nisms of the DNA damaging and pro-apoptotic actions in vitro of the maleimide derivative 1-(4-chlorobenzyl)-3-chloro-4-(3-trifluorome...

Development of a new effective drugs with low side effects and definite chemical characteristics needs indentification of bioactive scaffolds for further structural optimization. New synthesized derivatives of 4-hetaryl-5-amino-1-aryl-1H-1,2,3-triazoles and 3H-[1,2,3]triazolo[4,5-b]pyridines were tested for anticancer activity using 60 human tumor...

The use of novel carriers for gene delivery has been rapidly growing; thus, investigation of potential phytotoxic and mutagenic action of gene delivery carriers is important for preventing their negative side effects. We found that poly-DMAEMA carriers used in a 0.0025% dose exhibited a weak cytotoxic effect towards Allium cepa plants. In a higher...

The use of novel carriers for gene delivery has been rapidly growing; thus, investigation of potential phytotoxic and mutagenic action of gene delivery carriers is important for preventing their negative side effects. We found that poly-DMAEMA carriers used in a 0.0025% dose exhibited a weak cytotoxic effect towards Allium cepa plants. In a higher...

Development of chemical compounds capable to supress tumor progression is a perspective strategy of cancer treatment. Heterocyclic compounds possess a broad spectrum of biological activities, including anticancer one. According to the previous results of in silico modeling maleimide derivative 1-(4-Cl-benzil)-3-Cl-4-(CF3-phenylamino)-1Н-pyrrole-2,5...

Cage-like amines with norbornane and adamantane frameworks were studied in a versatile, convenient one-pot green synthetic experiment for pyrimidine core annulation via cleavage of a 1H-tetrazole ring. The transannulation was performed without an excess of the reagents and solvent under optimized conditions. As a result, 11 new thieno[2,3-d]pyrimid...

The different effects on human tumor cells (MCF-7, HepG2, HCT116, HeLa, HL-60, and HaCaT) for Ukrainian plant extracts have been examined for the first time. The extracts were from Crocus sativus (stigma, flowers, leaves, and corms), Juno bucharica (leaves), Gladiolus hybrid Zefir (leaves), and Iris hungarica (rhizomes) from Iridaceae family. All t...

Thiazole derivatives have cytotoxic effects towards tumor cells, such as glioblastoma, melanoma, leukemia and lymphoma. However, the intracellular mechanism of this action is not clear. The aim of our study was to investigate the action of N-(5-benzyl-1,3-thiazol-2-yl)-3,5-dimethyl-1-benzofuran-2-carboxamide (BF1) and 7-benzyl-8-methyl-2-propylpyra...

Magnetic and temperature-sensitive solid lipid particles (mag. SLPs) were prepared in the presence of oleic acid-coated iron oxide (IO-OA) nanoparticles with 1-tetradecanol and poly(ethylene oxide)-block-poly(ε-caprolactone) as lipid and stabilizing surfactant-like agents, respectively. The particles, typically ~850 nm in hydrodynamic size, showed...

Novel amphiphilic poly(DMAEMA)-block-poly(NVP-co-BA-co-AEM) (BP83-1) forms stable micelles and BP83-1/pDNA complexes possessing controlled size, charge and enhanced aggregation degree. It was found that the formation of the micelles by BP83-1 is necessary for successful DNA binding and compaction. The polyamphiphile micelle aggregation degree defin...

Aim. In vitro evaluation of anticancer activity of synthesized thieno[3,2-e][1,2,3]triazolo[1,5-a] pyrimidines and thieno[2,3-e][1,2,3]triazolo[1,5-a] pyrimidines. Methods. Organic synthesis, in vitro cytotoxicity assay, MTT assay, spectrophotometry, statistical analysis. Results. The isomeric thienotriazolopyrimidines synthesized were tested for t...

The influence of newly synthesized thiazole derivative N-(5-benzyl-1,3-thiazol-2-yl)-3,5-dimethyl-1-benzofuran-2-carboxamide on cellular ultrastructure and anti­oxidant system activity in lymphoma cells was studied in vitro . A pronounced cytotoxic action of the newly synthesized thiazole derivative on the tumor cells in vitro was reported earlier....

Background Development of biocompatible multifunctional polymeric drug carriers is crucial in modern pharmaceutics aimed to create “smart” drugs. The high potential of the PEGylated comb-like polymeric nanocarrier (PNC) in delivering both traditional and experimental drugs to tumor cells in vitro and in vivo has been demonstrated previously. In the...

Colloidal-chemical characteristics of block/branched cationic and non-ionic polyamphiphiles containing poly(fluorine-alkyl methacrylate) (poly(FMA)) block and their intermolecular complexes with biopolymers were studied. The dependences of their surface activity and micelle size on the length of hydrophobic and hydrophilic blocks, as well as the le...

One of the main problems of chemotherapy is development of negative side effects, when anti-tumor drugs damage healthy cells, in particular hepatocytes. Liver is the main detoxifying organ in human and animals. This organ plays an important role in the excretion of drugs from the body. Changes in free radical oxidation processes and respiratory fun...

We have found that new derivatives of 2-amino-5-benzylthiazole possess cytotoxic action towards human tumor cells (Finiuk et al., Biopolym. Cell, 2017; Finiuk et al., Ukr. Biochem. J., 2018). A release of the chemotherapeutic drugs into the environment may cause adverse effects towards ecosystems. To promote further these derivatives as potential a...

The aim of the present study was to investigate the antiproliferative and proapoptotic actions of N-(5-benzyl-1,3-thiazol-2-yl)-3,5-dimethyl-1-benzofuran-2-carboxamide derivative (compound 5) in glioma cells in comparison with the actions of temozolomide (TMZ) and doxorubicin (Dox), used as positive controls. The antiproliferative activity of the c...

Anticancer screening of several novel thienopyrimidines has been performed. The thienopyrimidine derivatives were synthesized from available starting materials according to the convenient synthetic procedures using a one-pot solvent-free reaction which gave a wide access to thienopyrimidine-derivative production. The synthesized compounds were pres...

The research aim was to test cytotoxic effects in vitro of seven novel pyrazolothiazolopyrimidine derivatives in targeting several lines of tumor and pseudo-normal mammalian cells. We demonstrated that cytotoxic effects of these derivatives depended on the tissue origin of targeted cells. Leukemia cells were found to be the most sensitive to the ac...

Development of modern agriculture and biotechnology is closely connected with the use of novel and effective genetic engineering methods. Presently, non-viral nanoparticle-mediated plant transformation methods gain more attention because of their stability, safety, and convenience of performance. In this work, new polymeric dimethylaminoethyl metac...

Aim. To evaluate the in vitro cytotoxicity of novel spiro-substituted thiopyrano[2,3-d]thiazoles towards tumor cells of different tissue origin. Methods. Organic synthesis; spectral methods; MTT test, statistical analysis. Results. In vitro screening of the cytotoxic activity of the 5’-carboxy-7’-aryl-1-aryl-3’,7’-dihydro-2H,2’H,5H-spiro[pyrolidin-...

The development of novel efficient substances for anticancer chemotherapy is an important problem of medicinal chemistry. Aim. To evaluate the level of cytotoxic action of novel thiazole derivatives towards tumor cell lines of different origin. Methods. Four N acylated 2-amino-5-benzyl-1,3-thiazoles (5a–d) were synthesized by reaction of 2-amino-5-...

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune inflammatory disease of yet unknown etiology. Tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) is recognized as a regulatory substance that plays a central role in RA development and progression. On the other side, the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) and Wnt signaling pathways are key mechanisms that induce and support car...

Aim To evaluate cytotoxic action of 4-thiazolidinone derivative Les-3833 and study the mechanisms of its pro-apoptotic action toward human melanoma cells and human tumor cell lines of other tissue origin. Methods The effect of Les-3833 or doxorubicin on the viability of 9 cell lines was studied using MTT assay, while human melanoma cells of WM793...

Aim To compare various pro-apoptotic effects of synthetic 4-thiazolidinone derivative (Les-3288), doxorubicin (Dox) and temozolomide (TMZ) in the treatment of human glioma U251 cells to improve treatment outcomes of glioblastoma and avoid anticancer drug resistance. Methods The cytotoxic effects of drugs used in human glioma U251 cells were measur...

Malignant gliomas (glioblastoma multiforme and anaplastic astrocytoma) occur more frequently than other types of primary central nervous system tumors, having a combined incidence of 5-8/100,000 population. Even with aggressive treatment using surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, median reported survival is less than one year. Alkylating agents, s...

Genetic transformation of specific cells is a key research tool in modern basic biological studies, as well as in biotechnology and gene therapy. Here we propose a principally new method enabling easy and effective delivery of plasmid DNA into the industrially important yeast species, Hansenula polymorpha, Pichia pastoris (this chapter), and Saccha...

Cancer incidence and mortality are constantly growing, and at the same time the classical treatment resistant cancer tumors development is increasing. Thus, an actual problem becomes the search for novel anticancer drugs which can affect drug-resistant tumor cells. In this study we have showed that the cytotoxic effect of new 4-thiazolidinone compo...

Different transformation systems and vectors have been improved to increase the effectiveness of transformation and achieve stable expression of target genes. Because classical direct and indirect transformation processes commonly suffer from instability of a gene in the environment, gene deletion, transgene silencing, and poor gene transfer effici...

There is much progress in application of genetic engineering for improving the biological properties of different organisms. Viral and nonviral carriers are used for delivery of genetic material into target cells. Polymeric materials of natural and synthetic origin are the most promising gene delivery agents. These polymers demonstrated high effici...

Rapid development of new nanomaterials and nanotechnologies is accompanied by significant achievements in various fields of medicine, industry and precise technology, as well as by undesirable effects on human health and environment. Our studies were focused on determination of toxicity in vitro and evaluation of the mutagenic activity of novel pol...