Cited by 425Click Chemistry and ApplicationsEnzyme function and inhibitionComputational Drug Discovery Methods

Strategies for Discovering and Derisking Covalent, Irreversible Enzyme Inhibitors

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Johnson, Douglas S, Weerapana, Eranthie, Cravatt, Benjamin F·2010·Future Medicinal Chemistry

Abstract

This article presents several covalent inhibitors, including examples of successful drugs, as well as highly selective, irreversible inhibitors of emerging therapeutic targets, such as fatty acid amide hydolase. Covalent inhibitors have many desirable features, including increased biochemical efficiency of target disruption, less sensitivity toward pharmacokinetic parameters and increased duration of action that outlasts the pharmacokinetics of the compound. Safety concerns that must be mitigated include lack of specificity and the potential immunogenicity of protein-inhibitor adduct(s). Particular attention will be given to recent technologies, such as activity-based protein profiling, which allow one to define the proteome-wide selectivity patterns for covalent inhibitors in vitro and in vivo. For instance, any covalent inhibitor can, in principle, be modified with a 'clickable' tag to generate an activity probe that is almost indistinguishable from the original agent. These probes can be applied to any living system across a broad dose range to fully inventory their on and off targets. The substantial number of drugs on the market today that act by a covalent mechanism belies historical prejudices against the development of irreversibly acting therapeutic small molecules. Emerging proteomic technologies offer a means to systematically discriminate safe (selective) versus deleterious (nonselective) covalent inhibitors and thus should inspire their future design and development.

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Authors
Johnson, D. S., Weerapana, E., & Cravatt, B. F.
Affiliations
  • Pfizer (United States) (US)
  • Scripps Research Institute (US)
Venue
Future Medicinal Chemistry
Published
2010-06
Volume
2
Issue
6
Pages
949-964
ISSN
  • 1756-8919 (ISSN-L)
  • 1756-8927
OpenAlex
W2114163388
Cited by
387
References
138
Citations by year
2026: 14 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 42 · 2020: 29 · 2019: 33 · 2018: 33 · 2017: 31 · 2016: 26 · 2015: 21 · 2014: 24 · 2013: 24 · 2012: 16
FWCI
9.18
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Future Medicinal Chemistry (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institute of Mental Health (U54MH084512)
  • National Cancer Institute (R37CA087660)
  • National Institute of General Medical Sciences (R01GM090294)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Chemistry › Organic Chemistry › Click Chemistry and Applications
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Enzyme function and inhibition
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computational Theory and Mathematics › Computational Drug Discovery Methods
Keywords
covalent inhibitors, irreversible enzyme inhibitors, fatty acid amide hydrolase, activity-based protein profiling, off-target selectivity, immunogenicity, drug safety, drug discovery strategies
MeSH terms
Animals, Enzyme Inhibitors, Humans, Proteome, Protein Array Analysis, Drug Discovery

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