One bead, one chemical compound: use of the selectide process for anticancer drug discovery

Potential of phage-displayed peptide library technology to identify functional targeting peptides

Combinatorial peptide library technology is a valuable resource for drug discovery and development. Several peptide drugs developed through phage-displayed peptide library technology are presently in clinical trials and the authors envision that phage-displayed peptide library technology will assist in the discovery and development of many more. This review attempts to compile and summarize recent literature on targeting peptides developed through peptide library technology, with special emphasis on novel peptides with targeting capacity evaluated in vivo.

Solid and Solution Phase Organic Syntheses of Oligomeric Thioureas

In order to study supramolecular architectures built from unnatural oligomeric and polymeric structures, one must first have an efficient synthetic strategy to produce them. Oligomers built from thiourea groups should form complex secondary and tertiary structures due to the hydrogen-bonding capabilities of the thioureas. Herein, both solution and solid phase synthetic procedures that yield oligomeric thioureas are described. They rely on the coupling of an isothiocyanate with an amine to produce the thiourea linkage. The monomers are derived from simple diamines. Higher yields are achieved using the solid phase method due to the ability to easily monitor the extent of reaction, to use a large excess of reagent, and to perform purification after cleavage from the solid support. A variety of oligomers are given as examples. The procedure is quite general, should be easily extended to complex monomers, and will allow the investigation of intramolecular and intermolecular interactions.

High-volume cellular screening for anticancer agents with combinatorial chemical libraries: a new methodology

A single-step cancer cell cytotoxic assay system for anticancer drug discovery has been developed which facilitates rapid screening of large combinatorial chemical libraries synthesized using the 'one-bead-one-compound' (OBOC) methodology. Each OBOC library bead incorporates two orthogonally cleavable linkers that release the bead-bound compound at a different pH. The assay utilizes high concentrations of tumor cells mixed directly with OBOC beads and plated in soft agarose containing tissue culture medium. One of the orthogonal linkers is cleaved at neutral pH in tissue culture releasing an aliquot of compound to diffuse at a relatively high local concentration into the soft agarose immediately surrounding the bead. Active compounds are identified visually from a clear ring of tumor cell lysis which forms within 48 h around just the rare bead releasing a cytotoxic compound. The bead releasing a cytotoxin is then plucked from the agar and the remaining compound still linked to the bead can be released for structural analysis, followed by compound resynthesis and confirmatory testing. This assay system has been successfully applied to identification of lead cytotoxic compounds from model peptidic and non-peptidic combinatorial chemical libraries. Use of this methodology may facilitate anticancer drug discovery.

Combinatorial drug discovery: which methods will produce the greatest value?

Combinatorial strategies are important new approaches to drug discovery, and it seems quite likely that they will result in the discovery of interesting potential pharmaceuticals. However, it is less clear whether combinatorial approaches will result in quantum advances in therapeutics. Nor is there general agreement about the factors most important in defining how combinatorial strategies will provide value to the discovery of lead and therapeutic compounds. In this review, we propose criteria that define the value of combinatorial strategies and categorize the various approaches by: (a) the type of chemical space to be searched, (b) the tactics employed to synthesize and screen libraries, and (c) the structures of individual molecules in libraries. We evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the various strategies and suggest milestones that can help to track their success.