Overcoming drug resistance through in silico prediction

Publication date: March 2014 Source:Drug Discovery Today: Technologies, Volume 11 Author(s): Pablo Carbonell , Jean-Yves Trosset Prediction tools are commonly used in pre-clinical research to assist target selection, to optimize drug potency or to predict the pharmacological profile of drug candidates. In silico prediction and overcoming drug resistance is a new opportunity that creates a high interest in pharmaceutical research. This review presents two main in silico strategies to meet this challenge: a structure-based approach to study the influence of mutations on the drug-target interaction and a system-biology approach to identify resistance pathways for a given drug. In silico screening of synergies between therapeutic and resistant pathways through biological network analysis is an example of technique to escape drug resistance. Structure-based drug design and in silico system biology are complementary approaches to reach few objectives at once: increase efficiency, reduce toxicity and overcoming drug resistance.
Source: Drug Discovery Today: Technologies - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Source Type: research