Lessons learnt from assembling screening libraries for drug discovery for neglected diseases.
To enable the establishment of a drug discovery operation for neglected diseases, out of 2.3 million commercially available compounds 222 552 compounds were selected for an in silico library, 57 438 for a diverse general screening library, and 1 697 compounds for a focused kinase set. Compiling these libraries required a robust strategy for compound selection. Rules for unwanted groups were defined and selection criteria to enrich for lead-like compounds which facilitate straightforward structure-activity relationship exploration were established. Further, a literature and patent review was undertaken to extract key recognition elements of kinase inhibitors ("core fragments") to assemble a focused library for hit discovery for kinases. Computational and experimental characterisation of the general screening library revealed that the selected compounds 1) span a broad range of lead-like space, 2) show a high degree of structural integrity and purity, and 3) demonstrate appropriate solubility for the purposes of biochemical screening. The implications of this study for compound selection, especially in an academic environment with limited resources, are considered.
University of Dundee, College of Life Sciences, James Black Centre, Dow Street, Dundee DD1 5EH, UK. r.brenk@dundee.ac.uk
Ruth
R
Brenk
Alessandro
A
Schipani
Daniel
D
James
Agata
A
Krasowski
Ian Hugh
IH
Gilbert
Julie
J
Frearson
Paul Graham
PG
Wyatt
D002626:Chemistry, Pharmaceutical / Q000379:methods*; D020650:Combinatorial Chemistry Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D016208:Databases, Factual; D015195:Drug Design; D019151:Peptide Library; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry; D047428:Protein Kinase Inhibitors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship
D019151:Peptide Library; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations; D047428:Protein Kinase Inhibitors