Pharmacology Flashcards
How Drugs act
Mostly through a receptor
Receptors
Recognizes then turns on effector pathway
Normally amplifies signal
Can be modulated at any step
Enhance
Inhibit
Turn off
Structure:
Ligand binding domain
Effector domain
Drug to response
Dose should be: absorbable Not destroyed Delivered to receptor target Concentration at target --> Response
Pharmacodynamics
Concentration of drug at target leading to response
Problems can occur if the receptor is mutated –> doesn’t elicit desired result
Pharmacokinetic
Dose to concentration at the target
drug is absorbed but the effective dose is not reached at the target
Important considerations of drug chemistry and receptors
Size (MW 7-50000 da)
Lipophilicity/Hydrophilicity
Source – natural, synthetic
Drug-Receptor Interactions
Covalent, electrostatic, hydrophobic (van derWaals): important for getting great specificity
Often multiple involved
May need to displace water
Implications of chirality
Enantiomers (one will bind better to the receptor than the others and the metabolism will differ between them) vs. Racemic Mixtures
Implications – efficacy, toxicity (R vs. S one produces result and the other doesn’t then we would have to give a double dose of a racemic mixture or 1/2 of enantiomer)
Examples
Prilosec/Nexium (one is the R and the other S, S is the active but the R can be converted to S in our bodies)
Albuterol (Racemic)/Xopenex (R, active)
Properties of the drug
Must bind specifically to receptor Must get to receptor Must not be destroyed/eliminated too quickly Must be safe Must be stable on the shelf
Drug Discovery/Development
Make slight changes to molecule to:
Improve potency –> Improve pharmacokinetics –> decrease toxicity –> make it possible to be in pill form
Success rate is very low, those that make it must balance potency vs. toxicity
First in class normally have a high toxicity or have a lot of drug interactions (b/c there aren’t any alternatives)
Second in class: must be better than first (better pKa, less toxicity, less interactions)
Nuclear receptor: overview
Ligands are lipid-soluble (like corticosteroids, thyroid hormone, mineralcorticoids, sex steroids) that bind to their intracellular receptor –>
Stimulate the transcription of genes by binding to DNA regions near the gene to be regulated
Nuclear receptor: mechanism
In the absence of ligand, the receptor is bound to hsp90(inhibits proper folding of receptor structural domains)
Ligand binds to receptor –> hsp90 is released –> receptor dimerizes & enters the nucleus –> DNA-binding & transcription-activating domains fold into an active form –> alteration of specific gene expression
Nuclear receptor: therapeutic consequences
Characteristic lag time: seen b/c it requires time to synthesize new proteins (could take minutes to hours)
Effect of the agent lingers for days/hours after the drug has been stopped, results from slow turnover of enzymes or proteins
Nuclear receptors: possible pharmaceutical modulation
Something that binds to the binding site (prednisone)
Something that removes hsp90 (although it is not specific enough)
Something that binds to the DNA-binding domain (also not specific enough)
Tyrosine kinase: possible pharmaceutical interventions
Target drugs that prevent dimerization
Kinase inhibitor
Something that acts as the ligand
Tyrosine kinase: mechanism
Transmembrane enzyme whose ligand is a polypeptide hormone or growth factor
Ligand binds –> receptor dimerizes & transphosphorylation of tyrosines –> phosphorylated tyrosine can then bind to specific proteins