Faculty


Pratibha M. Luthra

Sr. Professor

Medicinal Chemistry
Email: pmlsci2020@gmail.com

Dr. Luthra work focuses on i) the study of the signaling pathways in brain to explore the nNOS mediated oxidative stress leading to neurodegeneration in brain and ii) discovery of new chemical entities (NCE) in the therapy of Parkinson's disease ( PD) through adenosine A2ARs. iii) The work also involves to explore the molecular pathways in the pathology of GBM, which may reveal multiple targets for the treatment of GBM to address drug resistance and provide specificity and selectivity in cancer chemotherapy. The research tools in my laboratory include- Bioinformatics:ligand based and structure based drug design, virtual screening, protein structure prediction, synthesis of NCE and their isolation from plants, In vitro screening of NOS inhibitors using the mammalian expression clones of human eNOS, iNOS and nMOS expressed in HEK cell lines, and adenosine A2A receptor antagonists in stably transfected in SKNSH/ SHSY5Y or primary neuronal cells isolated from E18 rats / The anticancer activity of the compounds and their molecular mechanism ( receptor, oxidative and cell cycle mediated) was studied in human glioma U87 cell line. The in vivo study was carried with 5-OHDA induced Parkinson Model in rats.. The anticancer potential was studied with xenograft invivo model of glioblastoma by injecting U87 MG cells in non immunosuppressed mice (subcutaneous and intracranial).

Ongoing Projects:
  1. 1. Synthesis and in vitro and in vivo screening of isooxazole derivatives as novel A2AR antagonists in the therapy of Parkinson's Disease (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research) 2014-2017.
  1. 2. Study the anticancer effect (s) of Indian Medicinal Plants viz. Punica granatum, Vitis vinifera, Carica papaya, Emblica officinalis and Aloe vera using in vitro model of glioblastoma (Arbuda). department of ayurveda, yoga and naturopathy, unani, siddha and homoeopathy [ayush] approved in 2016.
Selected Recent Publications:
  1. 21. Pratibha Mehta Luthra, Nitin Kumar. 2021,Progress and development of C-3, C-6, and N-9 position substituted carbazole integrated molecular hybrid molecules as potential anticancer agents, Mini Rev Med Chem. 21(19):2929-2956. DOI : 10.2174/1389557521666210521221808

  2. 20. M Kumar, N Lal, PM Luthra and DT Masram. 2021, Exploring the binding and cleavage activities of nickelII complexes towards DNA and proteins, New Journal of Chemistry (RSC), Volume 15, 6693-6708; ISSN: 1144-0546 doi.org/10.1039/d0nj06210c

  3. 19. Exploring the binding and cleavage activities of nickelII complexes towards DNA and proteins, M Kumar, N Lal, PM Luthra and DT Masram, New Journal of Chemistry (RSC), 2021 https://doi.org/10.1039/d0nj06210c ( Published on 26 Mar 2021)

  4. 18. Nitin Kumar , Neetika Lal, Vishal Nemaysh, Pratibha Mehta Luthra (2020) Design, synthesis, DNA binding studies and evaluation of anticancer potential of novel substituted biscarbazole derivatives against human glioma U87 MG cell line; Bioorganic Chemistry, Volume 100, July 2020, 103911;https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bioorg.2020.103911

  5. 17. Proteasome mediated degradation of CDC25C and Cyclin B1 in Demethoxycurcumin treated human glioma U87 MG cells to trigger G2/M cell cycle arrest, Neetika Lal , Vishal Nemaysh and Pratibha Mehta Luthra* Toxicol Appl Pharmacol accepted on 12th July 2018.

  6. 16. Demethoxycurcumin mediated targeting of Mn-SOD leading to activation of apoptotic pathway and inhibition of Akt/NF-?B survival signalling in human glioma U87 MG cells, R Kumar, N Lal, V Nemaysh, Pratibha M Luthra, Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 2018 Apr 15;345:75-93 DOI 10.1016/j.taap.2018.02.020

  7. 15. Neuroprotective effect of IDPU (1-(7-imino-3-propyl-2,3-dihydrothiazolo [4,5-d]pyrimidin-6(7H)-yl)urea) in 6-OHDA induced rodent model of hemiparkinson's disease, N Kumari, SAgrawal, R Kumari, D Sharma, P M Luthra Neuroscience Letters, 675 (2018) 74-82.

  8. 14. Pharmacological assessments of potent A2A receptor antagonist IDPU (1-(7-imino-3-propyl-2,3-dihydrothiazolo[4,5-d]pyrimidin-6(7H)-yl)urea) in rodent model of Haloperidol induced Parkinson like symptoms. Kumari,, N, Agarwal S & Pratibha M. Luthra Neuroscience Letters 647, 53-60 2017.

  9. 13. Prospective of curcumin, a pleiotropic signalling molecule from Curcuma longa in the treatment of Glioblastoma, Pratibha Mehta Luthra, Neetika Lal European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry Volume 109, 15 February 2016, Pages 23–35.

  10. 12. Bis ((1, 4-dimethyl-9 H-carbazol-3-yl) methyl) amine-mediated anticancer effect triggered by sequence-specific cleavage of DNA leading to programmed cell death in the human U87 cell line N Kumar, R Kumar, V Nemaysh, N Lal, Pratibha M Luthra, RSC Advances 6 (72), 67925-67940, 2016.

  11. 11. Kumar, J. B. S., Kumari, R., & Luthra, P. M. (2016) Modulation of Indole Ring Annulation in Ergoline Template: Chemistry, Receptor binding and in-vivo Pharmacology with 6-OHDA Model of Parkinson's Disease. Med. Chem Res. 25(4), 02/2016 DoI :10.1007/s00044-016-1502-5.

  12. 10. Synthesis, biological evaluation and molecular docking study of novel piperidine and piperazine derivatives as multi-targeted agents to treat Alzheimer’s disease Poonam Meena, Vishal Nemaysh, Manisha Khatri, Apra Manral, Pratibha Mehta Luthra, Manisha Tiwari, Bioorg Med Chem 23, 1135-1143, 2015.

  13. 9. Synthesis and SARs of Coumarin Fused 1,5-benzothiazepines as Novel Anticancer and Antioxidant Agents, M Kidwai, R Poddar, A Jain, Rakesh Kumar and Pratibha Mehta Luthra Mini-Reviews in Organic Chemistry, 2015, 12, 000-000.

  14. 8. Kumari, N., Mishra, C. B., Prakash, A., Kumar, N., Mongre, R.K. & Luthra, P.M. (2014). 8-(furan-2-yl)-3-phenethylthiazolo[5,4-e][1,2,4]triazolo[1,5-c]pyrimidine-2(3H)-thione as Novel, Selective and Potent Adenosine A2A Receptor antagonist, Neuroscience Letters, 558 (13) 203-207.

  15. 7. Kidwai, M., Jain, A., Nemeysh, V., Luthra, P.M. ( 2014) An Investigatory Study of functionalized spirooxindoles, Indian J of Chemistry, 53 (B), 399-411.

  16. 6. Post-lesion administration of 7-NI attenuated motor and non-motor deficits in 6-OHDA induced bilaterally lesioned female rat model of Parkinson’s disease, Rita Kumari, JB Senthil Kumar and Pratibha Mehta Luthra Neuroscience Letters 589:191-5, 2014.

  17. 5. Kidwai,M., Jain, A., Nemaysh, V., Kumar, R. & Luthra, P.M. (2013). Efficient entry to diversely functionalized spirooxindoles from isatin and their biological activity Mazaahir Kidwai, Arti Jain, Vishal Nemaysh, Rakesh Kumar, Pratibha Mehta Luthra, Med Chem Res, 22(6).

  18. 4. Kumar, J.B.S., Kumari N. & Luthra, P. M. (2013). One Pot Synthesis of 3,4 Dihydropyridin-2-ones Via Michael Addition of In-situ Generated Enaminones, Synthetic communication, 43(22), 3010-3019.

  19. 3. Mishra, C. B., Prakash, A., Kumari, N., Kumar, N. & Luthra, P.M. (2013). Design and Synthesis of (4E)-4-(4-substitutedbenzylideneamino)-3-substituted-2, 3-dihydro-2-thioxothiazole-5-carbonitrile as novel A2A receptor antagonists. Chandrabhushan Mishra, Amresh Prakash, Namrata Kumari, Nitin Kumar, Pratibha Mehta Luthra Bioorg Med Chem, 21(19), 6077–6083.

  20. 2. Prakash, A. & Luthra, P.M. (2012). Insilico Study of the A2AR-D2R Kinetics and Interfacial Contact Surface for Heteromerization. AminoAcids,; 43(4),1451-64.

  21. 1. Kumar J. B. S. & Luthra, P.M. (2012). Plausible Improvements for Selective Targeting of Dopamine Receptors in Therapy of Parkinson’s Disease, Minireview in Medicinal Chemistry,2012 Dec;12(14):1556-64.