Block 1 Flashcards
What is drug repurposing?
Drug repurposing is the use of an existing and already approved drug for new things.
What is drug repositioning?
Drug repositioning is the development of an existing, previously evaluated but unapproved active pharmaceutical ingredient for the treatment of a different disease.
What is the FDA?
The FDA is the Food and Drug Administration and they are responsible for ensuring the efficacy and safety of drugs.
What are the stages of drug discovery and development?
D.I.L.P.C.F
- Disease identification.
- Identification of a therapeutic target.
- Lead identification (HTS and in vitro and in vivo pharmacology).
- Preclinical trials (HTS and animal testing).
- Clinical trials.
- FDA approval.
What is a bioassay?
A bioassay is any qualitative or quantitative analysis of a substance that uses a living system, such as an intact cell, as a component.
Primary bioassays are primarily:
Primary bioassays are primarily in vitro.
A 1% hit rate is considered reasonable.
Secondary bioassays are primarily:
Secondary bioassays are primarily in vivo.
What are HITS?
HITS are compounds that display the desired activity in a compound screen and whose activity is confirmed upon retesting.
What is HTS?
HTS is high-throughput screening.
What are the points to consider during assay development?
- The three R’s (Relevance, robustness, and reliability).
- Practicality.
- Feasibility.
- Automation.
Screening assays are made in?
Screening assays are made in microtiter plates.
What is a druggable target?
A druggable target is a protein, peptide, or nucleic acid with activity that can be modulated by a drug, consisting of a small molecular weight or a biologic, such as an antibody or a recombinant protein.
What do drugs target?
Drugs target enzymes, ion channels, transporters, and G-protein coupled receptors.
What are the functions of proteins?
- Act as catalysts (Catalysis).
- Transport substances within cells and from cell to cell.
- Transfer information.
What is the hierarchy of protein structure?
- Primary structure (amino acid sequence).
- Secondary structure (alpha-helix and beta-sheet).
- Tertiary structure (3D structure).
- Quaternary structure (interaction with other proteins)
What are enzymes?
Enzymes are protein catalysts that facilitate the transformations required to sustain life.
What are the 6 classifications of enzymes?
T.H.O.I.L.L
- Transferase.
- Hydrolase.
- Oxidoreductase.
- Isomerase.
- Lyase.
- Ligase
What is the function of Oxidoreductase?
Oxidoreductase catalyzes redox chemistry and transfers electrons between molecules.
What is the function of transferase?
Transferase catalyzes the transfer of a functional group from one compound to another.
What is the function of Hydrolase?
Hydrolase catalyzes the hydrolysis of a chemical bond.
What is the function of lyase?
Lyase catalyzes the cleavage of a chemical bond, forming a double bond or a ring.
What is the function of isomerase?
Isomerase catalyzes the formation of isomers.
What is the function of ligase?
Ligase catalyzes the joining of large molecules with a chemical bond.
What are the general functions of enzymes?
- Act as catalysts.
- Speeds up time for a reaction to reach equilibrium.
- Lowers the activation energy of a reaction.
What is the active site?
The active site is a hydrophobic cleft on the surface of an enzyme that accepts reactants.
The active site contains amino acids that bind reactants and catalyze the reaction.
What dictates enzyme specificity?
The active site dictates enzyme specificity.
What is the induced fit model of enzyme binding?
The induced-fit model states that the active site of the enzyme is nearly the right shape for the substrate, so the substrate alters the shape of the active site by binding to it.
How can the active site be blocked?
Molecules with strong binding interactions can block the active site as they will bind to the active site and then not leave.
What are the 3 types of enzyme inhibitors?
C.I.A
- Competitive inhibitors.
- Irreversible inhibitors.
- Allosteric inhibitors.
How do competitive inhibitors inhibit enzyme activity?
Competitive inhibitors inhibit enzyme activity by blocking the active site of an enzyme. (Is reversible as there is no covalent bonding, can be reversed by increasing the [ ] of the substrate.
Eg. Tamiflu
How do irreversible inhibitors inhibit enzyme activity?
Irreversible inhibitors inhibit enzyme activity by covalently attaching to the active site, thus blocking substrate entry and inactivating the enzyme.
Eg. Penicillin G
How do allosteric inhibitors inhibit enzyme activity?
Allosteric inhibitors inhibit enzyme activity by influencing sites other than the active site of the enzyme. This induces conformational changes to the shape of the active site to such a degree that the substrate is unable to get to it even though it is unoccupied.
Eg. MEK inhibitor.
Which types of enzyme inhibitors do pharmaceutical companies favor and why?
Pharmaceutical companies favor competitive and allosteric inhibitors.
Irreversible inhibitors are frowned upon as if they accidentally inhibit the wrong thing due to a similar biding site then the effects cannot be undone.
Irreversible inhibitors can also negatively alter the rate at which drugs are cleared from the body.
What are GPCR’s?
GPCR’s are G-protein-coupled receptors.
What is the function of receptors?
Receptors enable cell to cell communication by allowing the flow of information across the plasma membrane.
What are neurotransmitters?
Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers released from nerve endings, that travel across synapses and to receptors on target cells.
Usually short lived and responsible for messages between individual cells.
What are Hormones?
Hormones are chemical messengers that are released from cells or glands and travel some distance to bind with receptors on target cells throughout the body.
What are G-proteins?
G-proteins (guanine nucleotide-binding proteins) are a family of proteins that act as molecular switches inside cells.
They transmit signals from outside stimuli into the interior of the cell.
What turns G-proteins on and off?
Guanosine triphosphate (GTP) turns G-proteins on.
Guanosine diphosphate (GDP) turns G-proteins off.
What are the 5 families of GPCR’s?
- Rhodopsin.
- Secretin.
- Frizzled GPCRs.
- Glutamate receptors.
- Adhesion class of GPCRs.
What is the function of the Rhodopsin family of GPCRs?
Rhodopsin = Function in the CNS, cardiovascular regulation, and pain perception.
Serotonin, dopamine, angiotensin 2, prostaglandin receptors.