title: Target repurposing for neglected diseases.
abstract: Infectious diseases are an enormous burden to global health and ,since drug discovery is costly, those infectious diseases that affect the developing world are often not pursued by commercial drug-discovery efforts. Therefore, pragmatic means by which new therapeutics can be discovered are needed. One such approach is target repurposing, where pathogen targets are matched with homologous human targets that have been pursued for drug discovery for other indications. In many cases, the medicinal chemistry, structural biology and biochemistry knowledge around these human targets can be directly repurposed to launch and accelerate new drug-discovery efforts against the pathogen targets. This article describes the overarching strategy of target repurposing as a tool for initiating and prosecuting neglected disease drug-discovery programs, highlighting this approach with three case studies.
authors.affiliation: Northeastern University, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Hurtig 102, 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA. m.pollastri@neu.edu
authors.forename: Michael P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Pollastri
authors.forename: Robert K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Campbell
mesh_terms: D000217:Acyltransferases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism; D055808:Drug Discovery; D000518:Eflornithine / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006678:HIV / Q000201:enzymology; D016333:HIV Protease / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D017320:HIV Protease Inhibitors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D058069:Neglected Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000191:economics; D009955:Ornithine Decarboxylase / Q000378:metabolism; D065108:Ornithine Decarboxylase Inhibitors; D014346:Trypanosoma brucei brucei / Q000201:enzymology
chemical_list: D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; D017320:HIV Protease Inhibitors; D065108:Ornithine Decarboxylase Inhibitors; D000217:Acyltransferases; C050480:glycylpeptide N-tetradecanoyltransferase; D016333:HIV Protease; D009955:Ornithine Decarboxylase; D000518:Eflornithine