Epigenetic polypharmacology: from combination therapy to multitargeted drugs

de Lera, Angel R. and Ganesan, A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4862-7999 (2016) Epigenetic polypharmacology: from combination therapy to multitargeted drugs. Clinical Epigenetics, 8. ISSN 1868-7075

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Abstract

The modern drug discovery process has largely focused its attention in the so-called magic bullets, single chemical entities that exhibit high selectivity and potency for a particular target. This approach was based on the assumption that the deregulation of a protein was causally linked to a disease state, and the pharmacological intervention through inhibition of the deregulated target was able to restore normal cell function. However, the use of cocktails or multicomponent drugs to address several targets simultaneously is also popular to treat multifactorial diseases such as cancer and neurological disorders. We review the state of the art with such combinations that have an epigenetic target as one of their mechanisms of action. Epigenetic drug discovery is a rapidly advancing field, and drugs targeting epigenetic enzymes are in the clinic for the treatment of hematological cancers. Approved and experimental epigenetic drugs are undergoing clinical trials in combination with other therapeutic agents via fused or linked pharmacophores in order to benefit from synergistic effects of polypharmacology. In addition, ligands are being discovered which, as single chemical entities, are able to modulate multiple epigenetic targets simultaneously (multitarget epigenetic drugs). These multiple ligands should in principle have a lower risk of drug-drug interactions and drug resistance compared to cocktails or multicomponent drugs. This new generation may rival the so-called magic bullets in the treatment of diseases that arise as a consequence of the deregulation of multiple signaling pathways provided the challenge of optimization of the activities shown by the pharmacophores with the different targets is addressed.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: © 2016 The Author(s). Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
Uncontrolled Keywords: polypharmacology,epigenetic drugs,combination therapies,sdg 3 - good health and well-being ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/good_health_and_well_being
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Science > School of Pharmacy
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Medicinal Chemistry (former - to 2017)
Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry (former - to 2021)
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Depositing User: Pure Connector
Date Deposited: 28 Oct 2016 10:00
Last Modified: 22 Oct 2022 01:50
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/61145
DOI: 10.1186/s13148-016-0271-9

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