Biological target

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

A biological target is anything within a living organism to which some other entity (like an endogenous

pharmacologically active drug compound, the receptor target of a hormone (like insulin), or some other target of an external stimulus. Biological targets are most commonly proteins such as enzymes, ion channels, and receptors
.

Mechanism

The external stimulus (i.e., the drug or ligand) physically binds to ("hits") the biological target.[1][2] The interaction between the substance and the target may be:

  • noncovalent – A relatively weak interaction between the stimulus and the target where no chemical bond is formed between the two interacting partners and hence the interaction is completely reversible.[citation needed
    ]
  • reversible covalent – A chemical reaction occurs between the stimulus and target in which the stimulus becomes chemically bonded to the target, but the reverse reaction also readily occurs in which the bond can be broken.[citation needed]
  • irreversible covalent – The stimulus is permanently bound to the target through irreversible chemical bond formation.[citation needed]

Depending on the nature of the stimulus, the following can occur:[3]

  • There is no direct change in the biological target, but the binding of the substance prevents other
    ion channel blockade
    .
  • A conformational change in the target is induced by the stimulus which results in a change in target function. This change in function can mimic the effect of the endogenous substance in which case the effect is referred to as receptor agonism (or channel or enzyme activation) or be the opposite of the endogenous substance which in the case of receptors is referred to as inverse agonism.

Drug targets

The term "biological target" is frequently used in

pharmaceutical research to describe the native protein in the body whose activity is modified by a drug resulting in a specific effect, which may be a desirable therapeutic effect or an unwanted adverse effect. In this context, the biological target is often referred to as a drug target. The most common drug targets of currently marketed drugs include:[4][5][6]

Drug target identification

Identifying the biological origin of a disease, and the potential targets for intervention, is the first step in the discovery of a medicine using the

forward pharmacology based on phenotypic screening to identify "orphan" ligands[9] whose targets are subsequently identified through target deconvolution.[10][11][12]

Databases

Databases containing biological targets information:

Conservation ecology

These biological targets are conserved across species, making pharmaceutical pollution of the environment a danger to species who possess the same targets.

evolutionarily well-conserved drug targets are likely to be associated with an increased risk for non-targeted pharmacological effects.[13]

See also

References