Disease-associated carbohydrate-recognising proteins and structure-based inhibitor design.

Abstract

The role of carbohydrate-related pathways in a wide range of clinically significant diseases has provided great impetus for researchers to characterise key proteins as targets for drug discovery. Carbohydrate-recognising proteins essential in the lifecycles of high health impact pathogens and diseases such as diabetes, cancer, autoimmunity, inflammation and in-born errors of metabolism continue to stimulate much interest in both structure elucidation and structure-based drug design. For example, advances in structure-based inhibitor design against the mycobacterial enzyme UDP-galactopyranose mutase offer new hope in next generation anti-tuberculosis chemotherapeutics. The appearance of H5N1 avian influenza virus has re-stimulated much research on influenza virus haemagglutinin and sialidase. These latest developments on influenza virus sialidase have provided new opportunity for the development of Group 1-specific anti-influenza drugs. The role of siglecs and galectins in a range of disease processes such as inflammation, apoptosis and cancer progression has also inspired significant structure-based inhibitor design research.

• Authors: Mark von Itzstein
• Journal: Current opinion in structural biology (Curr Opin Struct Biol) Vol. 18 Issue 5 Pg. 558-66 (Oct 2008) ISSN: 0959-440X [Print] England
• PMID: 18706999 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't, Review)

Chemical References

• Anti-Bacterial Agents
• Antifungal Agents
• Antiviral Agents
• Hemagglutinins
• Trypanocidal Agents
• Neuraminidase
• Intramolecular Transferases
• UDP-galactopyranose mutase

Topics

• Animals
• Anti-Bacterial Agents (chemical synthesis, chemistry, therapeutic use)
• Antifungal Agents (chemical synthesis, chemistry, therapeutic use)
• Antiviral Agents (chemical synthesis, chemistry, therapeutic use)
• Chagas Disease (drug therapy)
• Drug Design
• Drug Resistance, Multiple
• Hemagglutinins (drug effects)
• Humans
• Intramolecular Transferases
• Mycobacterium tuberculosis (drug effects, enzymology)
• Neuraminidase (antagonists & inhibitors)
• Staphylococcus aureus (drug effects)
• Trypanocidal Agents (chemical synthesis, chemistry, therapeutic use)
• Trypanosoma cruzi (drug effects)