Enzymes for pharmaceutical and therapeutic applications

Abstract

Enzymes are highly efficient and selective biocatalysts, present in the living beings. They exist in enormous varieties in terms of the types of reactions catalyzed by them for instance oxidation–reduction, group transfers within the molecules or between the molecules, hydrolysis, isomerization, ligation, bond cleavage, and bond formation. Besides, enzyme based catalyses are performed with much higher fidelity, under mild reaction conditions and are highly efficient in terms of number of steps, giving them an edge over their chemical counter parts. The unique characteristics of enzymes makes them highly applicable fora number of chemical transformation reactions in pharmaceutical industries, such as group protection and deprotection, selective acylation and deacylation, selective hydrolysis, deracemization, kinetic resolution of racemic mixtures, esterification, transesterification, and many others. In this review, an overview of the enzymes, their production and their applications in pharmaceutical syntheses and enzyme therapies are presented with diagrams, reaction schemes and table for easy understanding of the readers.

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) as host materials for the enhanced delivery of biomacromolecular therapeutics

“…In addition to enzymes that directly kill cancer cells, those that play a complementary role with therapeutic agents have been used for MOFs-based delivery systems. 67,68 Tyrosinase (TYP) can activate the prodrug, paracetamol, in cancer cells. This process is accompanied by the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the consumption of glutathione, while the enzymatically cleaved product (4-acetamido-obenzoquinone) has a good therapeutic effect on drug-resistant cancer cells.…”

Enzyme Immobilization and Co-Immobilization: Main Framework, Advances and Some Applications

“…Moreover, the price of enzymes has remained fairly stable over time, unlike that of several metal catalysts [1][2][3]. The industrial use of enzymes has thus been steadily increasing [4][5][6][7][8][9] in sectors ranging from agrochemicals [10] to textiles [11], through cosmetics [12,13], commodity chemicals [14,15], detergents [16,17], food [18,19], leather [20], paper and pulp [21], and pharmaceutical manufacture and as biopharmaceuticals [2,22]. However, despite their advantageous features, the potential of enzymes for industrial use has not yet been fully exploited.…”

Liposomes as Tools to Improve Therapeutic Enzyme Performance

“…Enzymes are widely distributed in all animal and vegetal cells, playing a crucial role in all cellular metabolisms by being involved in critical reactions essential for the existence of life [ 3 , 4 , 5 ]. The absence or malfunctioning of one single enzyme can arise to illnesses which are commonly difficult to treat and control with conventional therapies.…”