Knowledgebase for addiction-related genes: is it possible an extrapolation to rational multi-target drug design?
In recent years the single-probe-single-target approach in drug design has started to be smoothly replaced by the single-probe-multiple-target (or multi-target) one, where a single drug is able to tackle different, but disease-related targets in a selective manner. However, the design of multi-target drugs has been hindered by a lack of a systematic network of disease-related common pathways. The recent development of the knowledgebase of addiction-related genes (KARG) has provided important hints on how to rationally design multi-target probes by connecting experimental techniques with available network models. In this perspective, the use of KARG as a template to build knowledgebases of disease-related genes for the rational multi-target drug design is suggested. Moreover, it is proposed that building knowledgebases of disease-related genes will become a necessary and ubiquitous tool in the rational design of multi-target drugs.
Espinoza-Fonseca
L Michel
LM
Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA. mef@ddt.biochem.umn.edu
D020650:Combinatorial Chemistry Techniques; D015195:Drug Design; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects