title: A robustness-based approach to systems-oriented drug design.
abstract: Many potential drugs that specifically target a particular protein considered to underlie a given disease have been found to be less effective than hoped, or to cause significant side effects. The intrinsic robustness of living systems against various perturbations is a key factor that prevents such compounds from being successful. By studying complex network systems and reformulating control and communication theories that are well established in engineering, a theoretical foundation for a systems-oriented approach to more effectively control the robustness of living systems, particularly at the cellular level, could be developed. Here, I use examples that are based on existing drugs to illustrate the concept of robustness, and then discuss how a greater consideration of the importance of robustness could influence the design of new drugs that will be intended to control complex systems.
authors.affiliation: Sony Computer Science Laboratories Inc., 3-14-13 Higashi-Gotanda, Shinagawa, Tokyo 141-0022, Japan. kitano@sbi.jp
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kitano
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects*; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology; D015195:Drug Design; D064420:Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions; D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects*; D013678:Technology, Pharmaceutical / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations