Recent advances in thiazole-based derivatives targeting diverse anti-inflammatory pathways

Various acute and chronic disorders, such as cancer, neurological diseases, cardiovascular disorders, and arthritis, are linked to inflammation. However, the long-term utilization of the available anti-inflammatory medications is frequently restricted by side effects and inadequate selectivity, emphasizing the need for safer and more effective therapeutic agents. A thiazole scaffold emerged as a unique framework in medicinal chemistry owing to its prominent biological effectiveness and favorable pharmacokinetic characteristics. Recently, substantial interest has been gained by various thiazole-based derivatives as potential anti-inflammatory drugs. The thiazole-containing derivatives have exerted prominent anti-inflammatory effects via a variety of mechanisms, such as suppression of COX and LOX enzymes, inhibition of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as TNF-α and IL-6, as well as the impediment of the significant inflammatory signaling pathways. It has been demonstrated that the substitution patterns and hybridization of the thiazole scaffold with other bioactive pharmacophores led to the improvement of the anti-inflammatory effectiveness and selectivity. The current review highlights the thiazole-based anti-inflammatory derivatives as promising candidates, encompassing publications from 2020 to 2025 for the discovery of innovative anti-inflammatory therapies by focusing on varied synthetic routes, structure-activity relationships, and mechanistic insights, besides their binding modes within the active site of the target enzymes and cytokines.