Abstract

In selecting drug target candidates for pharmaceutical research, the linkage to disease and the tractability of the target are two important factors that can ultimately determine the drug efficacy. Several existing resources can provide gene-disease associations, but determining whether such a list of genes are attractive drug targets often requires further information gathering and analysis. In addition, few resources provide the information required to evaluate the tractability of a target. To address these issues, we have updated TargetMine, a data warehouse for assisting target prioritization, by integrating new data sources for gene-disease associations and enhancing functionalities for target assessment. As a data mining platform that integrates a variety of data sources, including protein structures and chemical compounds, TargetMine now offers a powerful and flexible interface for constructing queries to check genetic evidence, tractability and other relevant features for the candidate genes. We demonstrate these features by using several specific examples.

Highlights

  • A drug discovery project typically begins with the identification of a target molecule

  • In evaluating potential drug targets, several factors must be taken into account: linkage to disease, tractability, potential side effects, novelty, as well as the competitiveness in the market (Figure 1)

  • The linkage to disease and the tractability are important in terms of the drug efficacy, and become key factors in whether or not the pharmaceutical research and development (R&D) is successful when selecting drug targets[1,2]

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Summary

Introduction

A drug discovery project typically begins with the identification of a target molecule. In evaluating potential drug targets, several factors must be taken into account: linkage to disease, tractability (the possibility of finding small molecule compounds with high affinity), potential side effects, novelty, as well as the competitiveness in the market (Figure 1). Among these factors, the linkage to disease and the tractability are important in terms of the drug efficacy, and become key factors in whether or not the pharmaceutical research and development (R&D) is successful when selecting drug targets[1,2]. Few resources provide tractability information, with the recent update of Open Targets being an exception To address these issues, we have updated TargetMine[8], a data warehouse for assisting target prioritization, and improved its functionalities for target assessment, in small molecule drug discovery. The new version provides a user-friendly and yet powerful interface to explore the disease rationale for human genes and helps prioritize the candidate genes in terms of both the genetic evidence and target tractability

Methods
Conclusions
Bunnage ME
Findings
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