Drug development is complex. To be successful, it requires significant time and money and the use of many different types of compounds to find just the right therapeutic solution.
A recent area of interest in drug development is polypharmacology — the study of how a single compound might affect multiple proteins in the body at once. Learning more about this emerging field can provide insights into the effects of drug discovery and its potential to speed drug development in the future.
What Is Polypharmacology?
Designing a multitarget profile for medications can be time-consuming and challenging, but it enables researchers to address challenging efficacy and safety issues. The study of polypharmacology involves applying single compounds to a variety of proteins in the body all at once.
This pursuit is of great interest to scientists because it holds the key to understanding how drugs work and why they have specific side effects. By understanding the complex interactions in your body, scientists hope to unlock new ways to develop drugs more safely and effectively.
Hsp90 Inhibitor Research
One specific example of polypharmacology in drug development is the study of Hsp90 inhibitors. These are compounds that have been shown to inhibit the Hsp90 protein in the body, which promotes cell division. This discovery is important to cancer treatment because many types of tumors are cells that have stopped normal cell division. By inhibiting Hsp90, cancer cells can be destroyed without harming normal tissues.
However, scientists have also been studying the effects of these inhibitors on other proteins that facilitate cell division. The cellular environment is very complex, and it appears that some Hsp90 inhibitors may damage proteins in the body as well, causing side effects such as muscle breakdown due to protein denaturation. These findings highlight the importance of studying compound effects in various environments to understand their function further.
The Importance of Predicting Compound Effects
One important step in drug development is to predict a given compound’s effects on the body. This is important in the case of compounds like Hsp90 inhibitors because they can potentially have unintended effects if their interactions with other proteins are not well understood. This can lead to liver damage or other adverse side effects.
Polypharmacology is an emerging field that holds great promise for the future of drug development. By understanding polypharmacology, scientists can make better predictions about how compounds will interact with the proteins in your body. This not only helps to ensure that potential drugs are safe and effective, but can also help to reduce the chances of dangerous side effects.
Sources:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3809828/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/nursing-and-health-professions/polypharmacology