Lecture 1 (intro) Flashcards
What is a drug?
A chemical (of known structure) which when administered to a living organism produces a biological effect
What is a medicine?
A chemical preparation that usually contains one or more drugs administered to produce a therapeutic effect
Medicines often contain other compounds including excipients, stabilizers, solvents etc.
What is gene therapy?
Addition of genetic material to cells to prevent or alleviate or cure disease?
What are protein biopharmaceuticals?
Copies of endogenous proteins engineered proteins antibodies
What is pharmacogenomics?
More complex analysis of individuals genes will guide the choice of drug therapy– so-called personalised medicine
What is Pharmacoepidemiology?
The study of drug effects at the population level, especially important for regulatory authorities in deciding whether or not to license a drug
What is Pharmacogenetics?
The study of genetic influences on responses to drugs, usually to identify risks of adverse reactions
What is Pharmacoeconomics?
-aims to quantify in economic terms the cost and benefit of drugs used therapeutically-important to governments (costs to national health system/ justification of tax spending) and regulatory authorities
What is a receptor?
Proteins involved in sensing the environment and are involved in chemical communication between cells. They coordinate body functions.
What are the macromolecules that interact with drug for affect known as?
Drug targets
What are Agonists?
Ligands that bind to receptor and induce signal/ reverse signal
What are Antagonists?
Ligands that bind to receptor and prevent it from inducing signal and responding to agonists
What does a reverse agonist do?
When bound to receptors, they reduce signaling by that receptor
What are protein drug targets? (4)
-Receptors
-Channels
-Enzymes
-Transporters
What are channels gated by? (3)
- Voltage
- Second messenger
- Chemical receptors
How can drugs interact with channels? (2)
-Can block the channel and fit into it
-Bind to regions outside of pore to modify channel behaviour (e.g decrease/increase in open probability)
What are blockers and modulators? (2)
Blockers – drugs that enter the channel and prevent ions from moving through it
Modulators – Drug that modifies opening probability
How can drugs affect enzymes? (3)
-Can bind to enzymes and act as inhibitors
-Substitute usual substrate and produce abnormal metabolite
-Binds to enzyme, processed and then released as an active version of that drug (Prodrug)
How can drugs affect transporters? (2)
-Act as inhibitors to block access to site used by molecules in transporter
-False substrates can be carried across membrane by transporter
What is the role of: (2)
Enzymes
Transporters
Enzymes - regulate biochemical reactions in the body
Transporters - proteins specialized to carry molecules across the plasma membrane
