Kinase Inhibitor Online Database Will Assist Drug Developers

A recent paper described the establishment of a free on-line database that will allow drug developers to analyze the complex interactions between kinases and their inhibitors, which will aid in developing cancer drugs that block specific disease-related kinases while avoiding major adverse side effects.

Investigators at the Fox Chase Cancer Center (Philadelphia, PA, USA) have cataloged and cross-indexed the actions of 178 candidate drugs capable of blocking the activity of one or more of 300 kinases. Among these enzymes are many that have been linked to the development of cancer and other diseases.

Quantitative analyses reported in the October 30, 2011, online edition of the journal Nature Biotechnology revealed complex and often unexpected interactions between protein kinases and kinase inhibitors, with a wide spectrum of promiscuity.

“These results have pushed the field closer to finding truly specific inhibitors of the processes that drive cancer,” said senior author Dr. Jeffrey R. Peterson, associate professor of cancer biology at the Fox Chase Cancer Center. “We now have a collection of kinase inhibitors that are better characterized and understood than any other library. The next step is to use this information to identify specific, effective therapies that stop cancer in its tracks while avoiding healthy processes.”

“The fact that kinase inhibitors target multiple kinases may actually be a good thing,” said Dr. Peterson. “It may not be possible to develop a successful drug against one kinase. Indeed, some kinase inhibitors that are effective in cancer are known to target multiple kinases.”

The kinase inhibitor library is available online to the research community at no charge.

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Fox Chase Cancer Center