Canadian Scientists Develop Drug Assay
Posted on: Monday, 8 May 2006, 18:06 CDT
Canadian scientists say drugs are initially tested for their inhibition of a therapeutic target, but in clinical use side effects can occur.
And those side effects, say Stephen Michnick, John Westwick and colleagues, can be caused by unexpected interactions inside cells and might often be responsible for drug failure during clinical trials.
The University of Montreal researchers have developed a high-throughput screen that monitors the effects of a drug on a wide range of cellular signaling pathways. They analyzed the effects of more than 100 known drugs and found drugs with similar chemical structures or protein targets often had similar intended -- and also unintended -- effects on cellular signaling.
Using that approach, they also showed four known drugs also displayed previously unknown abilities to block the growth of cancer cells.
The scientists say their new assay might allow researchers to optimize the desired effects of drugs, while minimizing the undesired effects during the drug discovery process.
Additionally, they said the ability to uncover unexpected, but potentially useful drug actions, could increase the efficiency of the drug discovery process.
The study is reported in the June issue of Nature Chemical Biology.
Source: United Press International
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