title: Virtual screening approach for the identification of new Rac1 inhibitors.
abstract: Rac1 protein is implicated in several events of atherosclerotic plaque development and represents a new potential pharmacological target for cardiovascular diseases. In this paper we describe a pharmacophore virtual screening followed by molecular docking calculations leading to the identification of five new Rac1 inhibitors. These compounds were shown to be more effective than the reference compound NSC23766 in reducing the intracellular levels of Rac1-GTP, thus supporting this approach for the development of new Rac1 inhibitors.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Farmacologiche, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20133 Milano, Italy. nicola.ferri@unimi.it
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ferri
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Corsini
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bottino
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Clerici
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Contini
mesh_terms: D016475:3T3 Cells; D000818:Animals; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D016208:Databases, Factual; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D020128:Inhibitory Concentration 50; D051379:Mice; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D011554:Pseudopodia / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D020830:rac1 GTP-Binding Protein / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; D020830:rac1 GTP-Binding Protein