Chemokine receptor antagonists: overcoming developmental hurdles.
Chemokine receptors have a key role in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases, inflammation and viral infection. However, with the exception of selective CCR5 antagonists for HIV, the promise of obtaining new therapeutics related to chemokine receptors has not yet been realized. This article highlights some of the recent failures in the clinical trials of chemokine receptor antagonists and explores possible reasons as to why this might have occurred. Such reasons include the lack of predictability of animal models and redundancy of the target. A potential solution could be to develop drugs that target more than one receptor--known as polypharmacology--which could be a novel way to generate effective therapeutics.
Horuk
Richard
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Richard Horuk is an adjunct professor at Touro University, 1310 Johnson Lane, Vallejo, California 94592, USA. Horuk@Pacbell.net
D000818:Animals; D019380:Anti-HIV Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D019707:Receptors, Chemokine / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000378:metabolism
D019380:Anti-HIV Agents; D019707:Receptors, Chemokine